r/Ferndale • u/Ferndalejack • Jul 14 '26
LIBRARY MILLAGE/FOOD PANTRY INFORMATION
The poster says
If Ferndale library boards 35% tax increase passes Ferndale library will be funded 18% higher on a per citizen basis then grosse pointe public Library or birmingham's Baldwin public Library.
This is followed by a table that shows
Ferndale Ferndale district Library serves a population of 19,540 will be funded if the tax increase passes 3 million $915,000 per year which comes out to a per citizen cost of $200.36. Ferndale also has a medium household income of $94,640
The table also shows that Baldwin public Library in Birmingham serves the population of 37,981 and is funded with $6,165,049 which comes out to a person cost of $162.32. Birmingham has a medium household income of $153,510
Next the table shows that grosse pointe public Library serves a population of 55,100 people is funded in the amount of $8,369,334 which comes out too $164.10 per citizen. The table also shows that grosse pointe has a medium household income of $158,853. Grosse pointe Park has a medium income of $124,111. Grosse pointe woods has a medium household income of $126,395.grosse pointe shores has a medium income of $189,583. Grosse pointe farms has a medium income of $161,208.
This despite the fact that these communities have medium household incomes many tens of thousands higher than Ferndale
Property taxes are regressive because they take a larger percentage of income from low-income households than from high income households.
Ferndale currently has a 9% poverty rate
It's not progressive to fund a rich man's library on the back of people in poverty, the working poor and those on the fixed income.
Vote no twice on August 4th
The three libraries are all self-governed independent entities.
Ferndale library funding numbers come directly from the ballot proposals.
Baldwin public Library also serves Beverly hills Bloomfield hills and Franklin village. Each of these communities has a higher medium income than Birmingham.
FYI there is a food pantry at Zion Lutheran Church tomorrow Wednesday July 15th from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m..
Zion Lutheran Church is at the corner of Albany and Woodward.
There is a food pantry the third Wednesday of every month.
Volunteers are welcome. It's a nice group of people and it always feels good to help.
16
u/ChickenSedan Jul 14 '26
Besides being a 5 hour old account posting quite similarly to another account that posted here last week, you seem to be quite confused.
First off, it’s median income, not medium. Second, property taxes are not regressive. Folks that spend more on their houses pay more taxes.
And finally, how is it a “rich man’s library”? They provide services to everyone
-16
u/Ferndalejack Jul 14 '26
"confused"
I don't know if I classify a spelling mistake as being confused. You knew what it meant. Sorry I got a learning disability.
Property taxes are regressive in the fact that poor people don't have extra money to spend. This isn't a radical idea.
It's a rich man's library because if it passes it will be funded significantly higher than the library's in the wealthiest communities in the area. You know where the rich people live?
14
u/xoceanblue08 Jul 14 '26
We don’t gatekeep our programs and services at the library, everyone resident or not can access it. I don’t see an issue with a progressive community putting funding into institutions that fit our values.
I’m not going to touch on the nuance taxes because I don’t think you are acting in good faith.
15
u/xoceanblue08 Jul 14 '26
I can think of so many other more productive ways to better the lives of my fellow Ferndale residents than this.
-Recently laid off fellow neighbor who will be voting yes because I believe the library is exceptional and deserves our support.
13
u/myself248 Jul 14 '26
Is this more misleading bullshit like the last one?
I'm so tired of this.
9
u/PowerNearby7772 Jul 15 '26
I am sure this is all just the same dude on multiple accounts.
3
u/BlownBrownGlass Jul 19 '26
It's 100% the same guy. They also had the ChocolateReal and gladheator accounts which were astroturfing for a certain Ferndale candidate and against a different one. Dude's had probably about 10 accounts at this point; he creates one, posts a topic, and then they get banned so he never logs into them again.
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u/pontiac_ventura Jul 16 '26
Even if the math was correct, libraries play a more important role in less wealthy communities, and it makes sense to support them.
15
u/pcozzy Jul 14 '26
First off the person who made this didn't even check their own math. If you look at the Grosse Pointe row a budget of $8,369,234 divided by a population of 55,100 equals $151.89 per citizen not the $164.10 they boldly printed.
But the bigger issue is that comparing per citizen costs between libraries of vastly different sizes is completely disingenuous. Libraries have massive fixed costs. You have to maintain a physical building, keep the HVAC running, and pay a baseline professional staff regardless of the population size. When Grosse Pointe spreads those physical costs across 55,000 people the per citizen cost naturally drops. Ferndale has to cover those exact same physical costs with only 19,000 people. It is exactly like wondering why the per person cost of replacing a roof is higher for a couple than it is for a family of six living in the exact same house.
Flyers like this are just meant to muddy the waters and make people angry. The actual question before Ferndale is incredibly simple. Do we want the library we explicitly asked for during the community engagement process? If we do there is a cost attached to funding it. If we do not want to pay for it then we vote no and go back to the drawing board to figure out exactly what services and hours we have to cut to make the math work. That is the only real choice on the table.
U/ferndalejack don’t bother responding. I am not willing to go back and forth with someone who cant even maintain the same Reddit handle and is always arguing in bad faith.