Little Traverse, Springvale townships to vote on Petoskey District Library millage renewal

PETOSKEY — This Aug. 6, voters in Little Traverse and Springvale townships will vote on whether or not to renew the Petoskey District Library's millage.

The renewal request is for a 0.4 property mill to renew library services. If the vote is not passed, residents in those townships will not be able to use the library's services, director Val Meyerson told the News-Review.

"Public library service is important for the whole community to have a common place for people to come and get reading materials, and have a place to meet, and have a safe place to congregate," Meyerson said. "A public library is very vital to the health of a community and without that millage renewal, the residents of those townships would be denied library access as of Dec. 31."

The millage request is a renewal matching what the residents within the townships have already been paying. The millage has been approved for eight years, and the renewal is for another four years.

Subscribe:Get unlimited access to our local coverage

"It's super important for those communities to help contribute to the public library, not only for the whole community's sake, but for their own sake so they get access to all the services that we provide," Meyerson said.

Meyerson added that the township millages do not contribute to any building or site upgrades, and are solely used for operations, like helping pay staff or purchasing books, for example.

"If the millages don't pass, there may be a chance that the library will have to reduce services," she said.

The library is supported by millages from Little Traverse and Springvale townships, as well as Bear Creek and Resort townships. Bear Creek and Resort townships have a 0.4 millage renewal up on the November ballot, Meyerson told the News-Review. The City of Petoskey has a 1.6 mill "perpetual millage," which is used to fund capital projects and building expenses at the library.

The millage renewal request is on the ballot for Tuesday, Aug. 6.

— Contact reporter Karly Graham atkgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at@KarlyGrahamJRN.