CHARLEVOIX — In the upcoming August primary election, the Charlevoix Public Library is urging residents to support a renewal of its millage.
The proposal seeks to renew the operating millage at a rate of 0.8 mills for a 10-year period, spanning from 2025 to 2034.
The mills will fund the purchase of physical and digital materials, programs like storytime, facility and technology costs, personnel costs and more, according to the library’s website.
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At an April 1 Charlevoix City Council meeting, library director Ryan Deery said “The requested millage is 45 percent of the library’s operating funds.”
If approved, library officials said the .8 mills will result in lower taxes due to the expiring bond with the city that will not be renewed. The average property owner will save $62 annually, paying an average of $135 for a $220,000 home, which is the median value home for Charlevoix County.
Also at the April 1 meeting, Deery emphasized the amount of people in the community who use the library.
“There are over 90,000 annual visitors to our historic facility — 85,000 items borrowed annually, 9,000 attendees to library programs each year and 50,000 annual Wi-Fi and public computer users,” he said.
The library also reported over 9,400 attendees participated in one of their 370 classes and programs offered last year and their community meeting rooms were used over 725 times.
Library staff answered over 16,000 questions last year and more than 6,200 people used the library computers.
The ballot language is as follows:
Shall the Charlevoix Public Library, County of Charlevoix, Michigan, be authorized to levy annually an amount not to exceed .80 mill ($0.80 for each $1,000 of taxable value), of which .6143 mill is a renewal of the millage rate that expires in 2024 and .1857 mill is new additional millage, against all taxable property within the Charlevoix Public Library district for a period of 10 years, 2025 to 2034, inclusive, for the purpose of providing funds for all district library purposes authorized by law? The estimate of the revenue the Charlevoix Public Library will collect in the first year of levy (2025) if the millage is approved and levied by the library is approximately $845,000. By law, a portion of the revenue from the millage may be subject to capture by the Charlevoix County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.
For more information, visit charlevoixlibrary.org.
— Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231) 675-0099 and adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Charlevoix Public Library seeks millage renewal in August election
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