Discussions of educating the public about the library millage question on the August ballot in Springfield Township were held on June 20.
The group, which has met three times this month, included the library board, employees, Friends of the Springfield Township Library and other interested members of the community.
‘We met to figure out how to educate the public on why we need the .5 mil. It’s been a coming need for a long time, we knew when we got this building (in March 2002) we’d need the other .5 mil,? said Library Director Cathy Forst.
According to Forst, the current library millage rate is at .4181 which translates to approximately $245,000. The additional .5 mills would generate approximately $330,000 to cover operating expenses and would roll back under the Headlee Amendment after the first year, said Forst.
Forst defined operational expenses as anything needed to run the library including staff salaries, materials and programs.
Under the current millage, additional contributions from the township’s general fund of approximately $60,000 help subsidize building costs as part of the Civic Center. According to Township Clerk Nancy Strole, another $15,000 was also contributed from the general fund the past two years for operational use.
‘Without that, we wouldn’t be able to open our doors,? said Forst, who thinks comparisons of Springfield’s library costs to other area libraries would surprise people.
Money generated by the millage would allow the library to assume those costs and potentially include computer upgrades, additional staff and materials, expanded hours and services, such as on-line date bases, and faster internet services.
‘With the general fund as strapped as it is, it’s a real struggle to keep doing that out of our general fund,? said Strole.
While the group chose to focus more on the positives rather than discuss repercussions of the millage not passing, Forst did comment during a phone interview about cutbacks if the millage failed.
‘There will be problems,? said Forst. ‘Materials, staff and hours would have to be cut. I can’t see any other way around it. But we want to accentuate the positives.?
Another meeting to discuss the library millage is scheduled for July 11 in the library’s Story Room at 7 p.m.
The library board approved the millage language for the August ballot at a special meeting on April 5.
The township board asked attorney Greg Need to draft the millage language for the library board at their April 13 meeting.