Prospects are good for Dorr Township voters to decide a millage proposal for the Dorr Township Library on the August ballot.
Local library officials have indicated the plan is to ask for one mill for 10 years.
“The current millage expires in December of this year so we have limited time to pass something,” the official said in response to an e-mailed question.
A proposal went before the Township Board at its Jan. 31 meeting to have a special election in May, but it wasn’t put together in time before the Feb. 12 deadline.
The Library Board has been grappling with economic issues in the wake of the defeat of a millage request in August 2018 when voters turned down a request for a levy of 0.798 mill for 10 years, with all but a half mill being a renewal.
The library proposal, which lost last year 1,070 to 634 for up to 0.798 mill for 10 years, would have provided about $212,000 for operations and programs. The current authorized millage rate of a little less than 0.3 mills will expire at the end of 2019. The Township Board provides $40,000 in added support.
Rachel Vote, president of the Library Board, last year told Township Board members, “If there isn’t a strong library in the community, property values will decrease. Local residents will have to pay for services, we’ll lose our director and we’ll have to cut staff.”
Library proponents have maintained the millage would allow for increased hours and staff, to add to its collections, fulfill more specific requests, and update facilities, continuing to access books and movies with partner institutions, as well as providing spaces for local groups and organizations.
Library Board member Sara Rydeman told the Township Board at a meeting late last year that another millage request would have to be developed for vote by May or August of 2019. Otherwise, the library will run out of money for operations.
She insisted, Director Elyshia Schafer and her staff, “really scrape. I give them a lot of credit… I feel the director is a very good steward of the funds we have.”
She added that the library’s community programs are terrifically popular and always full. Library officials were unable to get the proposal on the November 2018 general election ballot.
The current Library Board includes President Rachel Vote, Treasurer Marcia Brock Secretary Sara Rydeman and Trustees Carrie Brook, Jen Klug and Tara McMillan.