ROGERS CITY — The Presque Isle District Library will ask voters to support a property tax renewal to continue to help pay for operations.

The Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners on Thursday approved ballot language for the 1-mill property tax renewal, which will go before voters in the August election. The tax would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $50 per year.

The millage would generate about $714,000 annually, according to Presque Isle District Library Director Amber Alexander.

“This is just to renew that millage and continue operating as we have been the past seven years,” she said.

The millage covers the cost of operations and programming at all five branches of the library and the Rogers City Theater. Programming, such as children’s activities and ancestry resources, are paid for by the millage.

The library also receives funds to pay for library operations from penal fines, as well as state and federal funding.

County Clerk Ann Marie Main said the library will ask voters for a 20-year renewal instead of a seven-year renewal. She noted the board’s attorney, Joe Kwiatkowski, reviewed the language and recommended commissioners approve it.

Commissioner John Chappa said he was opposed to the length of the millage, but voted for the language to be placed on the ballot.

“I feel they should be coming back to the voters on a more frequent basis than 20 years,” he said.

The millage funding would not be used toward the library’s planned purchase of the Grambau Education Center, although Alexander indicated a separate millage could go before voters in the future.

She said that would only occur, though, if the operational millage is renewed.

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.

In other business

The Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners on Thursday also:

∫ Renewed the county’s voter-approved 911 surcharge of $2 on telephone lines in the county to pay for 911 services. Voters in Presque Isle County agreed to raise the telephone surcharge in November 2016.

∫ Agreed to a $5,000 budget amendment that will allow county Emergency Manager Sarah Melching to purchase additional personal protection equipment for county staff.