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ROSEVILLE — Roseville residents supported their public library yesterday at the polls.
During the Nov. 4 general election, the voting majority approved a 10-year Roseville Public Library millage renewal proposal.
According to the unofficial results from the Macomb County Clerk/Register of Deeds, there were 4,107 “yes” votes and 1,557 “no” votes.
The current 10-year millage will expire Dec. 31, 2025, and residents have paid on it for the last 10 years. The millage is not a new tax, but a renewal, which will begin Jan. 1, 2026.
According to the ballot language provided by the Macomb County Clerk/Register of Deeds, under the renewal the city will be authorized to levy annually an amount not to exceed .4622 mill ($0.4622 per each $1,000 of taxable value) against all taxable property in the city for 10 years, from 2026 through 2035. Residents will be taxed 46 cents for every $1,000 of their home’s taxable value.
Prior to the election, Roseville City Assessor Brook Openshaw said tht if the library millage renewal passed, the average taxpayer will pay $22.18 per year, which is the same tax they are paying now. According to Openshaw, the taxable value of the average home in Roseville is $48,000. The taxable value is the value on which property taxes are calculated. It is not the market value of the home.
The millage renewal will provide funds for operating, maintaining and equipping the Roseville Public Library. The estimated revenue the city will collect under the millage in the first year in 2026 is approximately $615,000, according to the ballot language.
If the renewal hadn’t passed, the library would have lost 33% of its funding. The hours of operation would have been reduced, and all services would have been reduced or eliminated. Because voters approved it, the library hours and services will remain the same.
During the library’s last fiscal year, there were more than 42,000 visits from patrons, and public computers were used 6,900 times to access the internet or Microsoft Office. Of the approximately 47,710 residents who live in Roseville, reportedly 41% of them have active library cards.
During the last fiscal year, library staff loaned 114,291 items that included books, audiobooks, kits, the library of things, board games, DVDs, videogames, Wi-Fi hot spots and music CDs. The library offered 386 individual programs for all ages. The library also offers scanning and faxing at no charge, along with printing and copying for a small fee per page.
The Roseville Public Library building is currently undergoing renovations as part of the city’s $20 million bond, which passed in November 2023 to renovate and update several city facilities. The cost of the library renovation is $3.5 million. The library is contributing $1 million from its reserve fund for the renovation, and the remaining $2.5 million is coming from the 2023 bond.
The bond is separate from the library’s millage renewal proposal. The renewal is for day-to-day operations and will not fund the renovations.
