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Baldwin Public Library trustees raise alarm over higher city administrative fee and warn against reallocating library millage
Summary
Baldwin Public Library trustees told the commission they had received a proposed administrative-services contract from the city that would more than double the library’s annual administrative fee and cautioned against repurposing library millage to support a proposed community center.
Baldwin Public Library trustees and the library’s director urged the Birmingham City Commission on March 24 to halt any attempt to shift library funding toward a proposed Community and Senior Center and to revisit a recent administrative-services contract the city presented to the library board.
Why it matters: The library board said the city sent a draft administrative-services agreement that would raise the library’s annual administrative fee from about $104,000 under the 2009 arrangement to approximately $219,000 — a roughly 109% increase. Trustees said the timing and delivery of that notice, coming two days after a regular library board meeting, denied trustees adequate time to evaluate the proposal and caused “inappropriate” process concerns.
Claims and legal status: Baldwin Public Library Director Rebecca Craft and multiple trustees told commissioners the library is established under Public Act 164 and — under Michigan statutory practice the board has the authority to set the annual millage rate within its legal maximum. Trustees said the library’s millage was reduced by the city in 2009 and restored in phases for the library renovation project beginning in 2016. They said any plan to take library millage to fund other municipal priorities would be legally and politically complicated and urged the city to negotiate with the board rather than proceed unilaterally.
Service consequences stressed: Library speakers listed concrete program and materials impacts if library revenue were reduced: longer holds and fewer e-books, reduced digital subscriptions and databases, smaller program offerings for all ages, and possible reductions in open hours or imposition of fees for lab services. Trustees also warned that federal grant reductions to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) add pressure to local budgets.
Process concerns and next steps: Trustees and the director asked for improved advance communication and more time to evaluate contract terms; they urged the commission to take no action that would reduce Baldwin’s millage without a negotiated approach. Commissioners acknowledged the trustees’ concerns and directed staff to pursue direct discussions with the library board before any decisions about millage reallocation or the administrative-services agreement.
Ending: City staff and commissioners said they will return to discussions and that any broader funding reallocation would require additional legal review and at least public hearings; no fiscal measures were approved at the March 24 meeting.
