Detroit Library Millage Renewal on Aug. 6 Ballot Raises Tax Capture Debate

Detroit voters will decide on August 6 whether to renew the property tax that funds the Detroit Public Library. Proposal L appears on the city's primary election ballot and would extend the current millage for another 10 years.

The measure would not raise taxes. Homeowners now pay $3.99 for every $1,000 of taxable property value, and the renewal would keep that rate in place. Voters first approved the millage in 2014.

Christopher Korenowsky, the library's chief operating officer, said the millage covers about 85% of the operating budget. "The vote is really the strongest majority we have of funding, to keep our 21 branches, to keep our mobile library van operating and of course, the historic Main Library in Downtown Detroit all fall under this operational vote," Korenowsky said. If the proposal fails, he said, the library would have to begin closing branches. "We just literally would not have the funds to operate," he said.

The millage is expected to bring in roughly $42 million in its first year if renewed. The library would not receive all of that amount, because of a practice known as tax capture.

Under a Michigan law passed in 1975 and recodified in 2018, cities can divert a share of property tax revenue to help develop downtown areas. The mechanism is formally called tax increment funding. City governments can draw on millages for entities such as schools, parks and public libraries. The Detroit Public Library lost almost $4 million to tax captures in 2023 and expects to give up more next year.

That loss has led some Detroiters to say they will vote no on Proposal L. Russ Bellant, co-organizer of Detroiters For Tax Justice and a former member of the Detroit Library Commission, opposes tax captures. He argues that because residents vote to authorize property taxes, the money should be spent only as voters intended. "A private state law allows local officials to take money largely unreported and do as they see fit with little notice to the public, you know its problematic," Bellant said.

Even so, Bellant does not think a no vote is the right way to fight the practice. He called Proposal L "a very easy way to help perpetuate and supplement the educational capacity in our city. Which is in crisis," and said cutting library funding would reduce the future of Detroit's children and of residents who rely on library services. He urged voters to press the City Council to end tax captures instead of rejecting the millage.

A renewed millage would also be treated differently from the current one. In March 2023, the city's Law Department determined that any library millage voters approve after 2017 is exempt from tax captures. That ruling would free up an additional $3.2 million for the library in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.

Korenowsky said the library could benefit from an end to tax captures but can still operate efficiently without that money. He said the budget team knows how much is expected to be captured and plans around it, so the losses have not caught the library off guard.

Bellant said the library's benefits outweigh the effect of tax capture. The library serves as a heating and warming center during extreme weather, runs a "laptop to go" program meant to narrow the digital divide, and gives children a safe place to go after school until their parents finish work. Korenowsky added that public libraries help build strong neighborhoods, support academic success and create jobs in the communities they serve.