“I’m just a soul whose intentions are good. Oh, Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.” — Eric Burdon and the Animals
It was with great regret that I noticed negative comments in response to the news the Dorr Township Library is going back to the drawing board and asking for approval of another millage request, this time in March.
There appears to be a lot of misunderstandings about millage requests and taxation in general.
These are the misconceptions, followed by what I hope clears them up:
“What part of no don’t you understand?”
Some voters don’t like it when a public entity asks for tax support and then comes back to ask again. They somehow believe taxpayers are getting badgered into doing something they don’t want to do and the requests won’t stop until they give in.
The Dorr Township Library Board asked for an 0.789 mill levy in August 2018, but it was rejected, leaving the library with no funding after 2018. So another request, this time for a mill, was put on the ballot in August 2019, and it was turned down, but this time by a smaller margin.
The third try features a reduction in the millage request, down to six-tenths of a mill.
Voters need to view this as just like haggling or bargaining at a garage sale or when buying a car.
Where did this Friends of the Library come from?
The Dorr Township Library Board has not traditionally had a “Friends” group, which is established to provide some extras, such as fund-raising, much like an athletic boosters club. It was formed for the first time this year. The money they are tasked with raising this time would be used to help fund the election in March.
The library is just a summertime baby-sitter
Library staff and its director do all they can to avoid just being a place for parents to dump their kids. They encourage parents to participate, and if it’s true that children go to the library to read books, get on the Internet or check out videos and CDs, it’s a good thing, not a bad thing. It’s much better than having them hang out at home, glued to their cell phones, or getting into mischief because “there’s nothing to do.”
I’m too poor to financially support the library
There’s more than a grain of truth to this claim. We’re being told the unemployment rate is at historic lows, yet so many have low-paying jobs. The well-to-do are telling us to dislike or oppose public services for which they don’t want to pay for. Perhaps they can afford to buy their own books, but many cannot. And the library millage amounts a small percentage of just about everybody’s budget.
Don’t waste money on special elections
The “Friends” plan to help fund costs for the election in March. The Library Board indeed spent $6,000 to have the special election last August and a lesson has been learned as a result.
Why should I pay for a library I don’t use?
Besides being awfully selfish, it’s the same argument used by too many in turning away from supporting public services. Why should I pay for roads when I don’t travel on most of them? Why should I pay for schools when I don’t have any of my kids attending? Why should I pay for police and fire if I don’t use them?
Please note: Taxes are the costs of having a civilized society.
That is an important and basic point that gets lost in our popular but wrong-headed collective hatred of taxes. We don’t seem to understand that individually none of us can pay for a police officer to guard our home or put out the fire when that calamity occurs.
Paying taxes for schools is intended to help create educated citizens who will contribute to our society.
If we believe reading is an important part of education, we should encourage it at every opportunity. Neil Postman in “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” posited that the laziest way to gain information is to watch it passively on TV or in a video. Visual learning is the poorest form. Audio learning is slightly better because it encourages the individual to imagine what’s going on.
Reading forces the individual’s brain to work a lot harder and should be regarded as good mental exercise. Therefore, we should provide our young people and even adults with ways to keep them fit.
“Some of you like pep rallies and plastic robots who tell you what to read… Why don’t you go the library and educate yourself, if you’ve got any guts?” — Frank Zappa
To: The writer of the editorial,
We often hear this after a lost election “they just don’t understand” (my words) etc. etc.
“Don’t waste money on special elections
The “Friends” plan to help fund costs for the election in March. The Library Board indeed spent $6,000 to have the special election last August and a lesson has been learned as a result.”
What exactly have you learned? You can run a election for $0 dollars or you can spend thousands in March …..Again please help a ignorant person understand how this is good business? If the friends can raise thousands please invest this into books or programs.
The board said “the millage question would be buried under an avalanche of issues and candidates in August.”
So the average voter is unable to read the whole ballot? Please help my misunderstanding on this issue.
Why not run this millage request in the general election in November (for free) when you will have the largest number of people voting? You certainly want to hear from all the voters. Don’t you?
Cheers!
Mr Young
Yes, I am one who at this present time see no need for money to increase services of the library.
I find it hard to believe there is a family where a parent could not give up two packs of cigarettes, a box of wine to purchase a book to read to their children .
How hard is it to except the fact very few parents take the time to read to their children?
Yes, I have a problem of repeatedly asking for taxes multiple times…it’s like the spoiled child whining till the parent gives in.
I also stand by my statement that many parents use the library as a childcare for at least the hour the child is there.
As for the financial…it may be a small part of the taxes one pays…but how many small parts ( taxes) can a person afford. When it comes to priorities I have no problem paying for police, fire, ambulance, or needed school improvements. Sorry. but roads, libraries , parks, new township buildings, are not within my budget and I will not applaud in support of them at this time.
In my opinion you are only half right about taxes being the cost of a civilized society.. yes some necessary services do need tax money to exist for the good of society. But taxation can and is used in an abusive form to control the society.
I have reached a point where ….when people say we have to provide free materials to keep a person’s mind fit. How in this world is anything FREE ? Someone has to be paying for it….if we speak about the freedom we have in the United States common sense tells us many have paid the ultimate sacrifice so we can be free .
So I do not believe I have misunderstood the library millage request…if this passes I will pay more…I at the present time do not want to pay more. And I didn’t want to pay more when it came up in the previous two tries. But keep beating us with this issue and sooner or later it will pass.
The question was asked above by Mr. Wilkens “Why not run this … election in November (for free) when you will have the largest number of people voting? You certainly want to hear from all the voters. Don’t you? ”
The main problem is that is at the last minute. Tax bills go out three weeks later. If it fails in November 2020 the next chance for everyone to vote would not be (using the same logic) until November 2024. Or is the 2022 election for Congress (which has a good not great turnout) okay?
A library can’t make plans like this.
A few years ago the road and fire millages died because the state proposed an horrible gas tax in the same election. Citizens were really ticked off about it, but made no distinctions between state and local. It Poisoned the Well.
So it doesn’t always pay to wait for the big elections where a generally more favorable vote comes rather than just from the small but determined group of naysayers who always show up to cast a no vote. Or mail it in from Florida or Arizona. They Don’t Use the Dorr Library if they are out of state half the year, so why should they help out.
Unfortunately you missed the point. The library definitely understands the point as they won’t comment. They want to run the request in March when the fewest people are present so they have a better chance of passing the sham job. In addition they are willing to pay thousands for the election in March when they can run it in November at no cost with the greater number of potential voters present. You certainly support wanting to hear from the most voters possible, don’t you? So……..AuldSchool educate the public why it is better to spend thousands over free, if it isn’t trying to railroad the millage through……..How many times do they need to hear the word NO?
Cheers!!