Free public library in village or township; petition to levy tax for establishment; notice of election; library fund; governing board; estimate of money necessary for support and maintenance of library; report; assessment and collection of tax; powers of corporate authorities; library as authority under state constitution.
MCL 397.210
in effect397.210. Free public library in village or township; petition to levy tax for establishment; notice of election; library fund; governing board; estimate of money necessary for support and maintenance of library; report; assessment and collection of tax; powers of corporate authorities; library as authority under state constitution.
Sec. 10.
(1) Fifty voters of an incorporated village or township may present to the clerk of the village or township a petition asking that a tax be levied for the establishment of a free public library in the village or township and specifying the rate of taxation, not to exceed 2 mills on the dollar. The tax may be of unlimited duration or the petition may specify the number of years for which the tax shall be levied. The clerk, in the next legal notice of the regular election in that village or township, shall give notice that at the election every voter may vote on the proposition including the rate and any duration of taxation for the free public library.
(2) If the majority of all the votes cast in the village or township is for the tax for a free public library, the tax specified in the notice shall be levied and collected in the same manner as other general taxes of that village or township for the period, if any, specified in the petition, and shall be placed in a fund known as the library fund.
(3) If a free public library is established and a governing board elected and qualified, that board, on or before the first Monday of September in each year for a free public library established by a township, and on or before the second Monday in April in each year for a free public library established by an incorporated village, shall prepare an estimate of the amount of money necessary for the support and maintenance of the library for the ensuing year, not exceeding 2 mills on the dollar of the taxable property of the village or township. Unless any period specified in the petition for the levy of the tax has expired, the governing board shall report the estimate to the assessor of the village or the supervisor of the township for assessment and collection in the same manner as other village or township taxes and the tax shall be so assessed and collected. A corporate authority of a village or township may exercise the same powers conferred upon the corporate authority of a city under this act.
(4) A library established under this section constitutes an authority under section 6 of article IX of the state constitution of 1963.
1877, Act 164, Eff. Aug. 21, 1877; How. 5184; Am. 1885, Act 36, Eff. Sept. 19, 1885; CL 1897, 3458; Am. 1907, Act 42, Imd. Eff. Apr. 11, 1907; CL 1915, 3440; CL 1929, 8068; CL 1948, 397.210; Am. 1986, Act 133, Imd. Eff. June 16, 1986; Am. 1994, Act 81, Imd. Eff. Apr. 11, 1994; Am. 2014, Act 131, Imd. Eff. May 27, 2014
Source: Michigan Legislature (legislature.mi.gov)URL: https://legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-397-210Fetched: 10/20/2026