News Photo by Temi Fadayomi The Alpena County Public Library Board of Trustees sit at their meeting in a conference room at the Alpena County Public Library on Wednesday. The board passed the resolution of the ballot language for their upcoming millage. The resolution will be brought before the Alpena Board of Commissioners to be approved before it is officially placed on the ballot.

ALPENA — The Alpena County Library Board of Trustees announced Wednesday that it will ask voters to approve a property tax hike for the library.

Board President Joe Garber said taxpayers currently pay 0.7462 mills, or about $37 a year for the owner of a $100,000 house. The board will ask voters to increase that tax to 0.9 mills, or about $45 a year for the owner of a $100,000 house.

According to Garber, the increased cost would allow the library to continue to adequately serve the community with rising costs in many areas.

“We’ve been operating at least 0.75 mills for almost 30 years,” Garber said. “As we know, everything’s getting more expensive. The cost of books, everything is getting more expensive, right? So, we know times are tough and times are tight, but we just feel to be able to keep offering the good programs and the quality services here at the library that we need, we just need a little more.”

In addition to asking for an increased millage rate, the board approved the ballot language for their upcoming millage to have voters renew their current millage.

With the the resolution passed, the matter now will go before the Alpena County Board of Commissioners for review.