By Mary Drier (Contact / Staff Bio)
June 20, 2009 - 08:13 p.m. EST

CASS CITY — There will only be one election in one community in August.

Rawson Memorial Library in Cass City is asking voters to renew a millage for library operations.

“That’s the only thing that will be on the ballot, and they will have to foot the cost of the election,” said Tuscola County Clerk Margie White-Cormier, noting officials of the library may not have realized that at the time with the changes to the election laws.

In 2005, state lawmakers decided to try to group elections into four uniform times a year.

The single ballot request will ask voters in the library district to renew a tax that will not exceed .35 of a mill for five years.

A person who lives in the library district with an $80,000 home would continue to pay the same tax of about $14 per year, according to Tuscola County Equalization Director Walt Schlichting.

If approved, the measure would generate about $62,000 the first year to help fund library operations.

However, because Cass City has a Downtown Development Authority, a small portion of that money will be distributed to the village.

White-Cormier said she isn’t exactly sure what the cost of the lone election will be.

The library millage request would cover residents in Elkland, Novesta and Elmwood townships.

“Elkland has two (voting) precincts, so altogether there would be four precincts, and there have to be three election inspectors per precinct,” said White-Cormier. “So that’s 12. They are each paid at least minimum wage or more.”

Plus, there is a head inspector in charge of a precinct, and that person is usually paid slightly more than the others.

Mary Drier is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. She can be reached at drier@tcadvertiser.com.