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Property tax appeals continue to cause problems at PWPL

MARQUETTE, MI--   Peter White Public Library officials are thinking of closing the building Fridays and reopening Sundays due to budget cuts. 

The Library Board met Thursday to discuss the 2015-2016 operating budget.   Library Director Pam Christensen says Fridays are typically less busy than other days, and the move would save about $30,000.

The library is currently liable for refunding more than $216,000 if all property tax appeals in the area are awarded by the Michigan Tax Tribunal.  If the tribunal doesn’t make a decision on the WE Energies Presque Isle Power Plant and the appeal extends into 2016, it would mean a $300,000 tax bill for Peter White. 

There are some solutions in the works, however.  Christensen says placing a Headlee Override on the ballot to bring the library’s current 1.3698 mills back to the original 1.5 mills would generate $80,000 a year.  Also, in 2018 the City of Marquette will pay off a 1-mill levy for a 1996 $4.5 million bond issue that renovated and expanded the library building.  Christensen says the library could ask for another half-mill, which would simply replace the bond millage.

“That millage, because of the Headlee Amendment, has actually been reduced to about half a mill,” she says.  “So one of the things that has been suggested is that the library might be able to ask for an additional half a mill that would go for library operations, and it would replace the current half mill of the bond issue.” 

Another possibility would be to create a district library with board representation from each entity involved.  The library would no longer be under City of Marquette jurisdiction and have to contract for services to the townships.  The Peter White Board intends to talk to the City Commission about the possibility.

Christensen says she appreciates the public’s continued support, as the issue is beyond the library’s control.

“And while people have been dismayed that we’ve had to close on Sundays, they understand that it’s for the financial health of the library that we do that, and that we couldn’t continue to operate at our current level with the tax issues that we’ve had.” 

The board will likely make a decision on cuts at its August 18 meeting. 

Nicole was born near Detroit but has lived in the U.P. most of her life. She graduated from Marquette Senior High School and attended Michigan State and Northern Michigan Universities, graduating from NMU in 1993 with a degree in English.