The Peter White Public Library is shown. (Journal file photo)

MARQUETTE — On Tuesday, several millages for the Peter White Public Library will be on ballots in the city of Marquette and Chocolay, Sands, Powell and Marquette townships.

Residents of the city of Marquette and Chocolay and Sands townships will determine whether to approve Headlee Override requests, while Marquette Township residents will vote on renewing library services, and Powell Township residents will decide whether to approve new library services.

A Headlee Override involves asking voters to approve raising the millage to its original rate after it has been forced to be rolled back because of growth in property values. As of August, the library had lost $84,000 of its annual operating funds due to changes in taxable values in the service area.

The Marquette City Commission unanimously approved a Headlee Override ballot request from the library in July to levy additional millage not to exceed .1315 mill for a period of five years. If approved by voters Tuesday, it would roll the currently collected millage rate of 1.3685 mills to the contracted millage rate of 1.5 mills and would raise approximately $95,000 in additional funding the first year.

If the Headlee Override requests pass, city of Marquette residents would see an annual tax increase of around $10 for a home valued at $150,000, around $20 in Chocolay Township, and about $13 in Sands Township.

If all ballot proposals pass, the library anticipates an increase of $223,000 in revenue which would stabilize the library’s operating budget and could create enough additional funding for increased service hours and expanded library services, the library’s website states.

The library regularly raises 10 percent of the operating budget with fundraising. State funding, penal fines and fines/fees account for 15 percent of the operating budget. The largest amount, 75 percent, comes from property taxes.

Over the last several years, Michigan Tax Tribunal cases have depleted revenue for public services like the library that rely on property taxes in order to function. According to Library Director Andrea Ingmire, while the current annual lost revenue is $84,000, the library expects to lose an additional $140,000 per year after the closing of We Energies-operated Presque Isle Power Plant and UP Health System-Marquette hospital’s move to a brownfield site, which the city commission approved years ago.

Brownfield projects and related Tax Increment Finance plans allow for local and state tax captures that reimburse development and other eligible activities on blighted or functionally obsolete properties.

The Brownfield Redevelopment Authority will begin to capture an anticipated $50,000 in taxes as soon as the hospital moves to its new location. The hospital will pay taxes to pay the brownfield debt obligation instead of paying the library for 24 years.

After that, the library will begin to receive some tax funding from the hospital. After 30 years, the entire debt obligation will be paid off and the library will begin to receive full annual tax payments.

The library is not able to opt out of any brownfield tax captures, and must disclose the captures in the ballot language, which Ingmire said has caused concerned among residents.

“Voting no on the library millage won’t keep the Brownfield Authority from getting part of library millage funds,” the library’s website states.

While the authority will receive some of the money, if the proposals are passed, most will go to the library.

Ingmire said library users ask her “almost daily” if the library would reopen on Sundays if the proposals pass.

“We can’t make that promise right now, but it would be a step in the right direction,” she said.

Ingmire will be available during director hours from 10-11:30 a.m. and 5:30-7 p.m. on Election Day at the library.

“I’ll actually be at the library all day, so if anyone has questions about the proposals or anything at all, they can pop by and I’ll be around to answer questions,” she said.

For more information about PWPL or the ballot proposals, visit pwpl.info.