Capital Area District Libraries is expected to ask voters to renew its property tax millage sometime during the 2022 election cycle, most likely on the August ballot, Executive Director Scott Duimstra said.
The renewal, if approved by voters, wouldn’t increase taxes, Duimstra said. This millage is to continue the taxpayer support that the library system already receives.
“Our goal is to maintain the status quo, like we’ve done a lot since 2006,” he said.
The system operates library branches in Aurelius Township, Dansville, Lansing, Haslett, Delhi Township, Leslie, Mason, Okemos, Stockbridge, Webberville and Williamston.
The millage of 1.56 mills was first approved in 2006 and has been renewed every time it has been on the ballot since then, which is every four years.
The owner of a house valued at $135,600 — the median value of an owner-occupied home in Ingham County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — pays about $106 per year to the district library system.
“Voters don’t like new tax dollars, so we try to live within our means and keep that millage rate,” Duimstra said. “We can’t decrease it; we need it to offer the services that we offer. But, we also know that individuals don’t want an increase in their tax dollars.
“We have a strategic plan that’s kind of guiding us through this. So for us, the two big things in this plan are, being a library, we have a heavy literacy focus. So we want to continue that whether it’s print books or programs like storytimes,” he said. “It’s also access to technology, which is huge for us and has taken over a large portion of our budget…. We want to continue to move and evolve our funds, the money we get from the millage, to pay for some of those services.”
Holt-Delhi Head Librarian Karon Walter said she enjoys seeing how kind and supportive the community is at library events, which include crafting and baking sessions for teens and adults as well as various story-telling and STEAM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) events for children younger than 12.
She said she hopes the community will support the millage renewal.
“I may be biased but I do think that the Holt community is the best community,” Walter said.
Shelby Walmsley is a Michigan State student who lives in Holt. She said she and her two children attend storytimes, holiday events and other events. In an email, she said she will support the renewal.
“It’s important to me to raise my children in an area that funds their community and the needs of the people who live there,” she said. “The library is just an important resource and I think it’s important to preserve it.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the amount a property owner would pay annually to the library system.