CHICAGO — The Detroit Public Library warns it may be forced to close if voters reject a property tax proposal on the Aug. 5 ballot.
The library currently relies on a pair of millages for nearly 90% of its $32 million budget. The ballot will ask voters to renew the millages and combine them into one for the next 10 years, raising an estimated $37 million a year, according to local reports.
The current millage expires in 2015.
"Without the millage we would have to close our doors and all those citizens would go unserved," Jo Anne Mondowney, the executive director of the library, told a local television station.
The Detroit Public Library is the largest in Michigan.
Voters in the tri-county area surrounding Detroit will also be asked to support a tax increase for the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation bus system. The system has also warned that it will be forced to close if voters do not approve the proposal.
