The Charlotte Community Library is asking voters to approve Tuesday, Aug. 2 a .5 mil increase to the current .9 mils it receives from residents in the City of Charlotte, and Eaton and Carmel townships. The current millage expires in 2017. The proposal calls for 1.4 mils for a period of 10 years.
Library director Jim Oliver said the increase is necessary to keep the library operating at its current level. The library is currently operating at an $88,000 deficit, which Oliver said is not sustainable for another year.
“We’re fortunate that our board has budgeted so conservatively,” Oliver said. “If we continue at this rate, it would decimate our savings.”
The library has operated on .9 mils since it became a district library in 1998. Since that time, it has seen its sources of revenue decline.
In 2010, the millage, which accounts for 70 percent of the library’s annual revenue, generated $410,772. That number has declined to $379,254 in 2015.
The library also receives state aid and a share of penal fines that originate in the county. In the last couple of years, state aid to the library has been cut nearly in half, said Sally Siefert, children’s librarian. She said revenue from penal fines is also unreliable. The library received $84,000 from penal fines in 2015, compared to as much as $189,800 it received in 2008.
Siefert said the millage increase would generate an additional $209,000 per year, which would not only allow the library to keep its doors open, but would allow the library to be in a position to provide better services to local residents.
“Currently, we can’t offer a lot of things young people are used to having,” said librarian Ann Goeman. “We have to have something to offer people. If we want to keep moving the community forward, we have to continue to move forward.”
Oliver said the library has had to cut back on staff and in purchasing new materials.
“We spent close to $62,000 on books in 2010,” Oliver said. “We’re spending just $42,000 now, and getting a lot fewer books than we used to.”
Oliver said the library serves more than 300 people each day and averages close to two books checked out per visitor.
“We need to be able to keep up with trends and continue to be forward thinking,” Goeman said.
If the millage request is unsuccessful, Oliver said the board, which is made up of residents of the City of Charlotte, Carmel and Eaton townships, may put the proposal on the November general election. The .5 mil increase would cost a taxpayer with a home with taxable value of $50,000 an additional $25 per year. Currently, that same taxpayer pays $45 towards the library, which means they would pay $70 per year under the increase.