This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Library Will Need Additional Funding Beyond Millage

Early numbers for the 2012-13 budget show that the library will need at least $850,000 more to stay open.

Preliminary operating budgets for all city departments are in the beginning stages of discussion, and the outlook for the Dearborn Public Library is not good–without additional funding.

Early numbers crunched by library administration show that one mill– and expected to generate around $3.4 million for the library–would not be enough to operate the main , let alone the two remaining branch libraries.

With one mill, the department still expects a shortfall of anywhere from $843,000 to almost $1.6 million, which library administration hopes will be subsidized by the general fund.

Find out what's happening in Dearbornwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Library Commission chair Marcel Pultorak reiterated the message at the commission's Dec. 9 meeting that he expects the city will still look to close the and branches.

“We need to have a dialogue about policies and processes," he said. "Based on what I’ve heard from the mayor and city … they were pledging that Dearborn would always have a library. There were no pledges made on whether the branches would continue to operate.”

Find out what's happening in Dearbornwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to the library's preliminary fiscal year 2012-13 budget, it will cost approximately $4.2 million to operate just HFCL, plus another $360,000 to operate each additional remaining branch library. Subtracting the funds generated by the mill and annual revenue of around $270,000, that leaves the library at a shortfall of $843,300 with just HFCL open; $1.2 million for HFCL and one branch; and $1.6 million for HFCL and both branches.

There has been no word yet as to how the might be allocated to city services, but "if at all possible," Pultorak said, he believes the city will support the library with additional funding.

However, even if the maximum 3.5 mills are approved by City Council, more cuts will still have to be made for the city to close it's budget shortfall. Several members of council have , as well as for the city to deal with the continued issue of minimum staffing for the police and fire departments.

Another option is to ask the city to levy an additional mill specifically to keep the libraries open. It's allowable under law without voter approval, but not a route the commission said they want to explore at this point, as they felt it would be unfair to ask that of residents.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?