Libraries made case to voters
Tax increases approved? In 2014? In Livingston County, no less? The devil you say.
If you believe the last part, you'd be on the horns of a dilemma to explain two certain results from Tuesday's primary election. Somewhat overlooked in the fallout from the races for Congress, state House and other issues is how two Livingston County libraries advanced tax increases to the ballot and won support for them.
Yes, circa Tuesday, in Livingston County. The place where some folks like their tax bills leaner than a skeleton.
Make no bones about it, though: The libraries and their supporters engaged the public and made the case for additional funding to provide what patrons want while assuring them they will get the value they deserve. That's a slight contrast in approach, and marked contrast in outcome, from some other, unsuccessful recent Livingston County millage proposals, which amounted to leaders saying:
• If voters don't pass this recreation tax on the facilities they're already paying for, we're going to raise their user fees.
• We'd do a better job of fixing up the streets and parks for you, but we'd have to cut from other parts of the budget to make it happen. So, voters can decide if we get the money to make it happen.
• We want the whole township to pay to pave some roads, even if many folks who live along them think it's a rotten idea.
As we saw in the library election results, a branch of government that is responsive to community needs is likely to find it has a community that will respond in kind when it has a need.
At the Hamburg Township Library, one of the notable planks in its successful millage platform was that money would be devoted to new digital services, including downloadable audiobooks, music and magazines, and remotely available databases for students and businesses.
"Our patrons want those services, and we try to give them what we can," Director Holly Hentz told Daily Press & Argus reporter Christopher Behnan for a March story.
Less obvious in the short term is how the additional funding will restore some library staff positions and help with operations and maintenance. Those areas have taken a hit as local property values have fallen off 14 percent since 2007.
The changes at the Pinckney Community Public Library, which also won its millage request, have already begun to unfold. A few years back, voters gave the library the green light to acquire the former Village Education Center on Putnam Street, renovate the place, and move operations out of the Mower Road library. That was done in response to increased demand for services.
Tuesday, the library asked voters to support the expanded materials, programs and other services it presents in the newer, larger venue. Asking for the millage at the same time as the building question simply wouldn't have made sense; after all, what if one had failed and the other had passed?
Financially, both of the library millage questions weren't going to send anybody scrambling for a dictionary to look up the term "cumbersome." For Pinckney, the rate increase means an extra $50 a year for the owner of a $200,000 home. In Hamburg, it's $36 more a year for somebody with a $200,000 home.
In contrast, a typical patron would probably rack up a much higher tab for obtaining library materials and services through an outside enterprise, had the libraries not been around to provide them in the first place.
Ultimately, the success of these library millage issues won't be rated on the numbers at the ballot box or on the effectiveness of the charm that went into wooing undecided voters. Rather, the success will be measured on how these libraries continue to demonstrate they are presenting programs, materials and other offerings worth supporting.
Voters believe the libraries have done a good job up to now, and we eagerly look forward to the next chapter for them.