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I can understand the importance of the operating millage renewal -- Headlee roll backs, millage expiring December 2002, and that it
represents 25% of the operating budget. I don't understand why you need .5 mills more millage. How do you justify that increase?
I'm glad the need for renewal is understandable. The .5 mills new additional millage has been requested because as the Library's
Board of Trustees has approved the operating budget over the past three years, it has been necessary to reduce, remove, or hold at status quo key lines in the budget. The equipment budget, used to
replace aging furnishings, computers, cash registers, and maintenance equipment has been reduced by over 75% in the last three years.
The program budget which brings speakers such as Janet Macunovich and John Guinn, and provides summer reading and school break programming for young people, has been underwritten
completely one year and in part another year by the Friends of the Library. The materials budgets -- funds used to purchase reference books, online databases, fiction, videos, audio language learning
tapes, books on tape and CD -- have been held at the same amount for the last two full years. Looking at these budget reduction efforts, even with the .3 mills (rolled back to .2874) in place, and
knowing that the Headlee Amendment will continue to roll the overall operating millage back from its original 1.3 (now at 1.0334) over the coming years, an additional new millage of .5 mills is
necessary. The Bloomfield Township Public Library cannot continue to offer the quality of services this community expects in its collections, staffing, technology, or building without both the renewed
and the new operating millage.
When I do the math on the bond -- at $22,875,000 for 45,100 added square feet, well, it's way too much per square foot -- over $500! Why is the
bond so much?
The Building Improvement Bond includes an extensive amount of renovation of the building, half of which dates from 1968. In fact, the breakdown of costs between renovation
and expansion is about 40% renovation and 60% expansion.
Renovation needs include replacement of the 34-year-old boiler, reshingling the roof, replacing torn and rippling carpet, repairing storm sewer damage in the lower level,
replacing the obsolete telephone system (which will no longer be supported by the manufacturer beyond 2003), and carry out renovations to meet updated A.D.A. (Americans with Disabilities Act)
requirements. The renovation costs per square foot range from simple floor covering and paint in some lower level areas at $37.50 per square foot to extensive, near-demolition renovation in the oldest
part of the building, particularly to allow for upgrades in heating, cooling, electrical, and technology cabling at $70.90 per square foot. The actual per square foot cost for new construction is $155
per square foot which compares very favorably with library projects currently underway and is especially favorable considering that our costs are projected for the project time line through spring 2005.
Overall, our project cost per square foot in renovation and expansion is $101.07.
What impact will there be if the library's Building Improvement bond does not pass?
An extensive amount of preparation, research, and planning has gone into the bond proposal beginning with a long list of patron requests collected since the library's latest
expansion in 1988. Separate from disappointing those many patrons, to not pass the bond will have significant impact on the library's operating budget. The 40% of the bond which is renovation of the
existing building must still be carried out over the coming years. The roof must be reshingled in order to prevent continued leaking. The boiler must be replaced -- its life expectancy was 30 years and
it now requires a complete and expensive tear-down each year until replacement. Standards for air flow and air quality have changed and the heating and cooling system needs to be upgraded, as evidenced
in the difficulty of the building's current "maxed-out" systems during this summer's sustained heat wave.
Some furnishings are worn, floor coverings need replacement for safety, lighting is a frequent complaint, and computers need to be faster which will require replacing cabling.
Some Adult and AV collections are in storage now; Youth collections will need to go into storage shortly. But, in order to use existing space more effectively, more space needs to be added. To do all of
these necessary renovations, the library will need to use the operating budget. Even with passage of the operating .3 millage renewal and added .5 millage, the operating budget will again face reductions
in order to provide renovations.
The timing of these requests from the library is unfortunate with the Township's public safety millage requests and the current cautious
economic climate. Why did the library have to ask voters for this now?
The .3 mills operating millage will expire December 2002. The last collection of the funds which make up 25% of the library's budget will be made December 2002. Without these
funds, there will be a significant change in the services provided by the library. In looking at this necessary renewal and the reductions in the operating budget over the last few years, even with the
millage in place, it was clear to the Library's Board of Trustees that some additional new millage is needed to continue to offer the quality of services -- open hours seven days a week, collection
improvements, up-to-date technology, excellence in staffing -- that this community has come to expect. Simultaneously, the library's Board of Trustees looked at how the library would be able to meet
patrons' frequent requests for a larger AV collection, a casual study space, easier to reach Youth shelving, as well as roof reshingling and better lighting, heating, and cooling. The Board did not want
to take one request for operating millage out to the voters, and, then, a year later, a second request for a bond. Further, the bond is necessary because of the extent of renovations needed. To fund
these renovations without a bond will mean using the operating budget, reducing its buying power still more, even with a successful operating millage proposal.
Together, these proposals will provide operating income and the kinds of renovations and improvements needed to carry the library for years to come. Just as the library has had only one major expansion and only one added millage request since its inception in 1963, it is expected that successful passage of these two ballot proposals will meet the needs of this community for some time. In difficult economic times, communities turn to their public libraries over and over again. The usage of this library has reached all-time highs. This is the time funding is needed to continue to meet that increasing demand.
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Two important proposals for the Bloomfield Township Public Library will be on the ballot on Election Day, Tuesday, August 6. Passage of both proposals is essential in order for the library to
continue to deliver the outstanding services our community enjoys and expects. Here are the particulars about the requested funding:
Millage to continue quality library service
BTPL is asking voters to renew .2874
mills of operating funds that will expire in December 2002, as well as .5 additional mills of operating funds. Together, the .7874 mills will allow BTPL to continue the library services it now offers;
meet the increasing cost of materials and technology; and improve the library's collections of books, AV materials, and reference databases.
A bond to fund a Library Building Improvement Plan
BTPL is seeking a bond to fund needed improvements to the library
building. The bond proposal requests $22,875,000 over 20 years to renovate and reorganize existing library space of 62,600 square feet and to construct 45,100 square feet of additional space.
The improvement plan would:
- Bring some of the library's most popular materials (like new books, best sellers, large print books, and magazines and newspapers) closer to the main entrance for greater
patron convenience
- Provide more group and quiet study space
- Provide space for more books, audiobooks, videos, DVDs, and CDs
- Create a larger children's room with more books and other materials, better shelving for youth materials, and a family restroom inside the youth room
- Provide a computer learning center for classes and individual research
- Provide a casual study area with comfortable seating and vending machines
- Add a business and investment center
- Add a foreign language center in the youth room
- Upgrade inadequate and obsolete heating and cooling systems, lighting, and electrical systems to enhance patron comfort, accommodate new technologies, and contain rising
utility costs through greater efficiencies
- Update technology, providing faster computers, wireless accessibility, laptop ports, and self-check-out machines
- Provide comfortable casual seating, better browsing shelves for compact discs and videos, larger computer workstations to accommodate study and research materials, and
improved signage
 For more information on these important proposals, view the official fact sheet
online (in Adobe Acrobat Reader format), request a fact sheet at the library, call the Library Director at 248-642-5800.
For even more information, visit these related pages:
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