DOWAGIAC — With unofficial results reported from all precincts, it appears Dowagiac will have to wait longer than hoped for improvements to its library.

A millage to fund large scale improvements to the Dowagiac District library was on Tuesday’s primary ballot. Though the millage passed in Cass County with 736 yes votes to 691 no votes, it did not pass in Van Buren County or Berrien County. According to unofficial results from electionresults.com, Van Buren County’s Keeler Township has 79 votes supporting the millage and 192 votes opposing the millage. Berrien County’s Bainbridge Township had five votes in favor and eight votes opposing, making the total yes votes for the Dowagiac District Library millage 820 and the total no votes 891.

The votes came from within the library district, which includes the jurisdictional limits of Wayne Township, the city of Dowagiac and the Dowagiac Union School District in Berrien, Cass and Van Buren counties, except the portions of the Dowagiac Union School District that are part of the Cass District Library’s and the Eau Claire District Library’s legal service areas.

The millage was planned to be used to nearly double the space of the library by adding an addition to the back side of the structure. More meeting rooms were to be added, in addition to special quiet spaces, teen spaces and vending areas. A more convenient outside book drop and a space that could be accessed after hours was also to be added. The millage also made plans to remove the front of the library to restore it to a 1904 Carnegie style.

The millage was for 1 mill, which means that the millage would have collected $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value on a property or home within the library district.  As the average taxable value of a property in the district is $70,000, the average homeowner would have paid $70 per year. The millage would have generated approximately $523,000 in its first year.

Despite the upset, Library Director Matt Weston said he is not giving up on the millage.

“I’ll be disappointed for a little bit, but then we are getting right back to it,” Weston said.

Weston and the library board will be going back to the drawing board on the millage and speaking to district constituents about what they would pass on the ballot.

“I look forward to pursuing this further, perhaps in a slightly different direction. … We may ask the community what amount [of millage percentage] they would find acceptable,” Weston said. “We still believe in renovating the library and restoring the front of the building.”

The library still plans to add a millage for improvements on the next opportunity for election ballot, Weston said.

“I’m not giving up on this,” he said. “I think the renovations will benefit the community. I think this will make the library a great place to meet. It’s a source of information. We have people job hunting here, using the computers, learning, reading, meeting their fellow community members here, attending programs. We want to give our patrons the best place we can.”