By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
There will be two district library tax proposals on the Aug. 5 Primary Election ballot for voters from the City of Belleville and the townships of Van Buren and Sumpter to consider.
The first is a proposal to borrow $19,050,000 in bonds that will be issued for not less than 20 years to build and outfit a new library. They will be paid off by millage that will total 1.08 mills for property owners the first year and an average of 0.96 mill for the rest of the 20 years.
The second is a proposal to add 1 mill to the tax bills of property owners in Belleville, Van Buren, and Sumpter for 20 years to pay for operation of the library. Taxpayers already are paying 0.7 mill for operation of the present library and so this 1 mill will be added on to that.
At a special meeting of the Belleville Area District Library Board on April 22 at the Sumpter Township Community Center, the board approved all the legal paperwork to put the two questions onto the ballot.
The board also voted unanimously to name the Belleville-Area Independent as the newspaper where all the legal notices about the library election will be printed.
The meeting started after the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees meeting had ended across the street and three Sumpter trustees stood at the back of the room to hear the library business meeting: Trustees Bill Hamm, Alan Bates, and Peggy Morgan. The township attorney Rob Young also attended the meeting.
Satellite library
At the end of the agenda, the board gave information on anticipated changes to a portion of the Sumpter Community Center building to transform it into a satellite library if the ballot proposals pass.
Sumpter resident Mary Ban said people need to know that the total operational millage would be 1.7 mills, once the 1 mill is added to the present 0.7 mill tax being paid.
Then, she said RESA is putting forth a 2 mill tax proposal on that same Aug. 5 ballot and the Van Buren Public School Board endorsed it. That tax would be levied countywide and the proceeds divided up among school districts.
Then she pointed to the bonds Wayne County sold to pay for the jail construction that has now ceased, although taxpayers are still paying for the bonds.
Ban suggested the library board look into two new properties that went up for sale on Main Street, between Third and Fourth streets, at a total “package” cost of $279,000.
This property is close to the present library property and could be used to expand the library at its current site. This would keep the library in the city instead of taking it over the bridge to the DNR site in Van Buren Township, she said.
Ban said the cost of the library construction totals $35 million when you include the cost of borrowing the money instead of just the $19.050 million stated on the ballot.
Ban said this “pie in the sky plan” for the library started at least nine years ago when Library Director Deb Green and the architect they hired last year, Dan Whisler, came to Sumpter to show their drawing of a library on the DNR site.
The DNR site was not officially chosen by the board for the library until last fall.
John Delaney, who said he was a resident of Van Buren Township, said he wanted to chastise the library board, its attorney John Day, and architect Whisler for not requesting a traffic study on the DNR site, even though people have repeatedly complained it would be a public safety hazard to have the library there.
“I asked you three meetings ago: Where is your parachute? Your safety net?” Delaney said, noting the board has no secondary plan if the DNR site doesn’t work.
“I’m calling a point of order,” said board president Mary Jane Dawson. “We’re talking about the term of the millage.”
“I’m calling a point of order,” replied Delaney. “You’re trying to stifle me in an open meeting. You’ll lose. Why isn’t there something …”
Dawson interrupted him by banging the gavel and called out to the board’s attorney, “Mr. Day…”
Day addressed Delaney with: “You can’t monopolize the meeting. If she wants to cut you off, she can.”
Delaney disagreed with that statement and then asked if the operational millage was to operate in that DNR location only?
She said it was for the main library and the satellite.
“It’s a pie in the sky,” Delaney replied.
Dawson said they plan to use part of the building they were in for the satellite.
“What part of the district library agreement did you miss?” Dawson challenged Delaney. She said the board is asking for money to build a main library and a satellite, part of what they were directed to do by the district library agreement.
Belleville attorney Barbara Miller said from the audience, “This meeting is being taped. The first time in four years it’s taped and Sumpter Township made arrangements for it, not this board.”
Miller has been regularly asking the board to videotape the meetings and make them available to the cable channels in Sumpter and Van Buren Township, but the board has taken no action to do so.
After the discussion turned to the satellite library plans, board member Mike Boelter said it was not the board’s intention to bring old materials from the present library to Sumpter and put all new things in the new library, as had been said in a Sumpter board meeting.
Miller asked what will happen to the old furniture and other items and board member Joy Cichewicz said they’ll have a yard sale or an auction.
This is new information, since there had been discussion in the past about bringing the shelving and the newest furniture at the present library to use in the Sumpter satellite.
Architect Whisler said they probably will reuse the library stacks for the “back of the house at the new library” where the Friends of the Library will sort and store book donations for coming sales.
When asked if they will have security for the satellite library, the board said none was planned, but they will have surveillance cameras running.
Delaney said although the police department is in the same building, they shouldn’t ask the police to monitor their satellite.
Library Director Green said the present library is covered by a security office for 10 hours a week, right after school, and, “The security officer is mighty bored … nothing a good SHHH! wouldn’t handle,” she said.
Green had said at a previous meeting that there have been fewer problems with students at the library since the new high school was opened.
“For Sumpter Township to get their satellite, Sumpter Township would have to vote for the …” Miller began and was cut off by Dawson.
“Taxpayers would support both locations with the vote,” Dawson said.
“What part goes to Sumpter Township?” Miller asked.
Cichewicz said about $900,000 goes to Sumpter for the renovations to the community center for the satellite.
Miller pointed out that was from the $19 million being requested.
Then the board recessed for about a half hour as architect Whisler led people around the building pointing out how the building will be changed to make it into a satellite.
Special meeting May 1
Dawson announced that the board has set a 7 p.m. meeting on Thursday, May 1, at the library to announce the latest information on acquisition of the proposed DNR library site.
Questions for the Aug. 5 Primary Election
I. BONDING PROPOSITION
Shall the Belleville Area District Library, formed by City of Belleville, Charter Township of Van Buren, and Township of Sumpter, each in the County of Wayne, State of Michigan, borrow the sum of not to exceed Nineteen Million Fifty Thousand Dollars ($19,050,000) and issue its general obligation unlimited tax bonds for all or a portion of that amount for the purpose of constructing, furnishing and equipping a new building for library purposes; constructing renovations to, furnishing and refurnishing and equipping and re-equipping an existing building for library purposes; and acquiring sites for library buildings?
The following is for informational purposes only:
The estimated millage that will be levied for the proposed bonds in 2014 is 1.08 mill ($1.08 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation). The maximum number of years the bonds may be outstanding, exclusive of any refunding, is twenty (20) years. The estimated simple average annual millage anticipated to be required to retire this bond debt is 0.96 mill ($0.96 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation).
II. DISTRICT LIBRARY OPERATING MILLAGE PROPOSAL
This proposal will allow the District Library to levy additional millage in the City of Belleville, Charter Township of Van Buren, and Township of Sumpter for library operating purposes.
Shall the limitation on the amount of taxes which may be assessed against all taxable property within the geographic boundaries of the Belleville Area District Library, Wayne County, Michigan, be increased by 1 mill ($1.00 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a period of 20 years, 2014 to 2033, inclusive, to provide funds for library operating purposes; the estimate of the revenue the District Library will collect if the millage is approved and levied in 2014 is approximately $1,352,779, of which the District Library will receive $1,224,806 and the following entities will capture a portion of the revenues: Belleville Downtown Development Authority ($24,891), Van Buren Township Downtown Development Authority ($73,050), and Van Buren Township’s Local Development Financing Authority ($30,032)?
What will a mill cost me?
A mill equals $1 of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value of your property.
For example, if your house is worth $100,000 in market (assessed) value and has a taxable value of $50,000, 1 mill will equal $50 in tax a year.
The library ballot proposals for Aug. 5 are for 1.08 mills, for the first year, to pay off the construction bond, plus 1 mill more for operations. That would be $54 + $50 for a total of $104 in new taxes a year. Both millages are for 20 years.
Also, the 2-mill proposal for five years from RESA on the Aug. 5 ballot to get money for the school districts in Wayne County would cost the same homeowner above another $100 in new taxes, if it passes.
To get the exact amount it would cost you for your property, get out the “Notice of Assessment” all property owners were mailed earlier this year and look for the “Taxable Value” entry. The tax would be $1 for every $1,000 of your taxable value.
— Rosemary K. Otzman, editor