Bedford library to ask for 0.25% levy in Aug.

The Bedford Branch Library in Temperance, Mich.

TEMPERANCE — Bedford Township voters will be going to the polls Aug. 5 to consider a 0.25-mill levy request for their library.

The township board Tuesday unanimously approved Bedford Branch Library officials’ request to put the request for the additional tax to the voters. The millage would generate $245,000 annually for five years for operating and maintaining the library building on Jackman Road.

Community librarian Jodi Russ explained that the library had been without levy income since the 2012 expiration of an 0.75-mill levy for renovation of the township’s old library. That millage included money for the costs of maintaining the building. Since the expiration, the library has used reserves to pay for such expenses as grounds upkeep, utilities, furnishings, and janitorial services.

The Monroe County Library System provides materials for the Bedford Branch and pays for equipment and librarians. Township taxpayers pay for building operations.

In other business, several supporters of two Toledo dogs sentenced to be euthanized for killing three Lambertville show pigs were not allowed to address the township board.

Supervisor Greg Stewart barred discussion of the matter because the case is no longer in the township’s jurisdiction. The dogs’ owner has indicated that she plans to take the matter to a Michigan appeals court, and the dogs’ killings have been temporarily stayed by a Monroe County Circuit Court judge.