Saline District Library is asking voters to renew an operating millage on the Aug. 4 ballot, but the question many residents have asked is not why the library needs money. It is why the library is asking for less.
The proposal would renew an expiring 20-year, 0.55-mill operating millage for 10 years at 0.33 mills. Library officials say the request is not a tax increase. For a home with a taxable value of $200,000, the renewed millage would cost $66 per year.
Library Director Karrie Waarala announced the ballot request in a June 17 eNews to patrons, writing that most of SDL’s revenue comes from two millages and one of them is expiring. The millage up for renewal makes up approximately 26% of the library’s revenue.
In a July 1 update, Waarala addressed a question she said has come up in community conversations: how the library can afford to ask for less than the original 0.55 mills…