Grosse Pointes

Voters to decide library millage Feb. 28

By K. Michelle Moran
C & G Staff Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo by K. Michelle Moran The Grosse Pointe Woods Branch of the Grosse Pointe Public Library, at Mack and Vernier, is one of two new branches built shortly before the economic meltdown. Photo by K. Michelle Moran The Grosse Pointe Woods Branch of the Grosse Pointe Public Library, at Mack and Vernier, is one of two new branches built shortly before the economic meltdown.

GROSSE POINTES — Supporters of the Grosse Pointe Public Library hope voters will agree with a proposed new millage of up to 0.7 mill that’s on the Feb. 28 presidential primary ballot.

A broad coalition of local residents and community leaders has banded together to encourage voters to approve the millage, which they say was necessitated by the economic downturn of 2008 and corresponding drop in property values — a decline that in recent years has left municipalities, school districts and other government entities reliant on property tax revenue scrambling as they saw those dollars fall sharply.

During a presentation to the Grosse Pointe Shores City Council Jan. 17, Brian Garves, the Shores representative and current president of the Grosse Pointe Public Library Board, said the requested millage is for a maximum of 0.7 mill for eight years, from 2012-19. If voters approve the millage, Garves said they wouldn’t just automatically levy 0.7 mill each year. They will instead look at the budget annually and levy only the amount needed to cover the deficit, up to 0.7 mill.

“If we just set a rate, we’d actually be recovering from the taxpayers more than we need, and we don’t want to do that,” Garves said.

Grosse Pointe City resident Ben Burns, chair of the Grosse Pointe Public Library Millage Committee, said the library is important for children, property values, education and more. He said they need the additional revenue to maintain services at the present level.

“I think the library is hugely important to the well-being of the community in the future,” Burns told the Grosse Pointe City Council at a Jan. 23 meeting.

In a letter to the community from the Grosse Pointe Public Library Millage Committee, they point out that even with several years of wage freezes, staff cuts, purchase reductions and other efforts to trim spending, the library is still looking at a deficit of up to $1.1 million for the 2012-13 fiscal year. This year’s deficit is projected at $567,294, said Grosse Pointe City resident Mary Beth Smith, a member of the GPPL Board, Friends of the Grosse Pointe Public Library and the millage committee.

“Without additional support,” the committee wrote, “our library will be forced to make drastic cuts in service and hours (of) 30 percent and/or close one entire branch.”

The library is also still covering debt payments for the bonds issued in 2003 and 2004 for, respectively, the new Grosse Pointe Woods and Ewald Library branches.

Library revenues are now 15 percent below what they were in 2009, and by the end of 2013, they’re projected to be down by 30 percent, said GPPL Board Trustee Ed Frederickson.

“We’ve cut as much as we can,” he told the City Council Jan. 23.

According to a brochure put together by the committee, librarians today make less than they did in 1994. Collections purchases have been slashed by 45 percent, and programs like the Visiting Author series have been eliminated.

Some people have asked why the library has three branches when larger cities like St. Clair Shores have one. Garves said Grosse Pointers use their libraries at three times the rate of St. Clair Shores residents, with about 12 uses per year for every resident. In the 1950s, he said they actually had five library branches.

The libraries offer access to technology that’s critical for everything from school projects to job searches. Garves said the computers at the branches were used for 112,000 hours last year, or about 308 hours per day.

“We need libraries more than ever right now because of the speed at which technology is changing. … (Not everyone has) computers in their homes,” he said. “People need this.”

Some library users, like Garves, rarely set foot inside one of the buildings, but they enjoy the services on a regular basis just the same. Garves said he downloads ebooks and audio books online.

About 81 percent of the 54,000 residents in the library system — which covers all five Grosse Pointes and part of Harper Woods — use the library at least once during the year. Of that number, 25 percent use the library 25 or more times annually.

In a letter, Smith said the additional cost to someone with a home worth $150,000 was about $52.50 a year. As Frederickson pointed out, that’s about $1 per week, and it would only appear on the winter tax bill.

“We hope that it will pass,” Burns said of the millage. “It would be a terrible blow for the libraries if it doesn’t.”

For absentee ballots or more about voting in the Feb. 28 election, contact your city clerk’s office. For more information about the millage, the committee has established an online presence at www.VoteYesGPLibraryMillage.org, www.facebook.com/VoteYesGPLibraryMillage, and the Twitter page @GPLibMillage.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer K. Michelle Moran at kmoran@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1047.