County Library System Tax Question Heading For The November Ballot
An analysis calls for improvements at the Thornhill Branch.
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Communities served by the St. Louis County Library System, including the areas served by the library's Thornhill Branch, will be asked to support a 6 cent tax increase when the question appears before voters in November.
The increase, which library officials say would mean $17.10 per year on a home valued at $150,000, is the first request since April 1983. The move was approved by library trustees April 16.
Funds from the increase would pay for improvements identified in the agency's Master Plan, which was released in February.
"There is no question that our Library and its branches are an integral part of our community, a vast educational asset and the core of our educational system outside the schools," Library Director Charles Pace said in a statment. "This is an investment that will be returned many times over well into the future."
For the Thornhill Branch, the Master Plan calls for replacing the existing building with a new facility on the existing site on Willowyck Drive. The review says the current branch location is "unable to meet current and future needs of library users," and that staff work areas could be more efficient.
James Baer contributed information for this report
flyoverland
12:17 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
Would someone please show me where this mythical $150,000 home is located? Sorry, Library, the schools just nicked me for another grand. I will be voting no.
Chris P
5:42 am on Friday, July 6, 2012
Big no on this one, too. Every library upgrade and addition has meant big, wasteful atriums, large "meeting rooms", and overall tangential activities not central to the library's mission. The library system (as well as all taxing districts) enjoyed a boom as our home values skyrocketed, and this extra tax will NEVER, EVER be reduced. It's not just giving MORE money to the library system - they already get MORE money every year - it's increasing the RATE at which we turn over money. Sorry, I like the library and all, but it's just not worth it to get taxed another fifty bucks a year so they can put in a huge glass atrium for us to heat and cool.
Chris P
5:46 am on Friday, July 6, 2012
I want to point out separately that it's a shame how the library distorts this request by saying it "is the first request since April 1983."
It may be technically true, but just like school districts, fire districts, and others, the first RATE increase does not equal the first increase. The amount of money each of us pays to the library has been going up EVERY SINGLE YEAR since 1983 as home values increase. Look at your own tax bill. Mine has been going up at three times the rate of inflation for the past 10 years, with the exception of this year when it's gone up only about 2x the rate of inflation.