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Tax decision forces PWPL to cut Sunday service

uproc.lib.mi.us

MARQUETTE, MI--   Peter White Public Library in Marquette is closing Sundays beginning in March to make up for nearly $31,000 it owes Duke LifePoint. 

The Michigan Tax Tribunal upheld a hospital appeal of the city’s property tax assessment from 2013 and 2014, reducing its taxable value and making every tax-dependent organization, like the library, the County and MAPS, responsible for the difference. 

Library Director Pam Christensen says the PWPL Board of Trustees has already cut an hour of operations from each weekday, but decided closing Sunday was the best option if more cuts needed to be made. 

“They just felt it was cleaner than mixing up the weekday hours,” she says.  “You know, it’s harder to keep track of when we’re open and when we’re closed.  We will still be open Monday through Saturday.” 

Christensen says shutting the building down on Sunday will save the library about $15,000 a year.

“We feel that by closing on Sundays and not opening the building at all we will see savings over and above what we would see if we closed early on another day of the week, because we still would be operational for a certain period of time on the other days of the week,” she says. 

Christensen states it’s demoralizing for the Board and staff to have to cut service Sundays because it’s typically a busy day for people who can’t come in during the week. 

She notes what people don’t realize is there are other tax tribunal decisions pending and tribunal appeals are constantly being filed.  Those appeals typically cover a three-year period.  Marquette Township officials say the liability on the pending decision on Lowe’s could be around $10,000 for three years, and the potential liability for tax tribunal action in the Township could be almost $40,000.

“We have some very large entities in the city and the townships we serve that have filed for tax tribunals,” Christensen says, “and some of the taxes are being cut over 60 percent.”   

Property tax appeals to tax tribunals aren’t just a local issue concerning Duke LifePoint or Lowe’s—they’re a conundrum that municipal officials trying to fund services and balance the books are dealing with across the state of Michigan. 

Christensen says, “The thing that bothers me the most about it is the people who are appealing are not saying that our taxes were calculated incorrectly, they’re not saying the assessors did not do their jobs according to the way the state sets down rules for taxation.  They’re saying, ‘Well, if we close tomorrow and this building is empty, it won’t be what it’s worth now.’  I think that’s just a ridiculous argument.”

If further cuts are necessary the PWPL Board will consider closing the library on Monday or a portion of Monday. 

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.