POLSON – Lake County voters will decide in July whether to begin paying additional taxes to assist in funding for the downtown library.
After favorable votes from both the Lake County Commission and Polson City Commission, county residents are expected to receive a mail-in ballot between July 8 and July 27.
The well-organized request would establish an “equitable funding source” for the Polson City Library to enhance and maintain current programs, according to Jake Block, chair of the Library District Steering Committee.
“Libraries are free to use, but not free to operate,” said Block, a career school administrator who retired as Missoula’s superintendant before serving in the position in Polson schools before retiring again.
“We need resources to maintain what we are doing and certainly to expand,” Block told the city commission in a recent public hearing.
“Libraries are important and crucial,” he said, adding that inquiries from people about relocating to an area always involves discussions about schools and libraries.
The single-issue election, which will be financed by the Library Board of Trustees, will require but a simple majority to levy up to 11.14 mills, or about $42 a year, increasing the library’s budget from $275,000 to about 448,000 and adding a full-time and a part-time position.
The Polson City Library, which in 2007 ranked 16th in circulation among 80 state public libraries, currently receives 57 percent of its budget from the City’s general fund. That supports salaries and some building expenses, but not supplies, equipment purchases or collection expenditures.
An additional 8 percent comes from the state and Lake County and an inordinate additional amount (35 percent) comes from contributions.
“Reliance on private sources is not common practice for public libraries,” said Block, adding that the entire county along with summer visitors use the facility but share little in the cost of its operation.
The library has been working toward establishing a district for some time. In 200,3 an effort to combine the area’s five libraries into a countywide system failed by 311 signatures.
In the general election in November, an attempt to form a Library District within the boundaries of Polson High School failed by a mere 121 votes, prompting the Steering Committee to move forward with a mail-in ballot.
Last year, according to Block, with just five employees and 10 volunteers, the library oversaw 272 programs involving 4,500 people. There are about 8,000 people who hold library cards, or about one-third of Lake County’s population.
“People who use it should share the cost,” said Block.