From one of my industry newsletters:
"Jackson County, OR voters turned down an $8.3 million tax increase designed to reopen their 15-branch library system by a 60-40 margin--about the same as a vote last November (prior to the actual closing of the libraries in early April.) The head of the Save the Libraries campaign 'said he believes many residents voted against the levy not because they don't support the libraries, but because they don't support this method of funding them.'"
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In reality it seems like we hate taxes more than we like books. Library funding should be a core competence of local governments; and people should be happy to provide that funding. Governments can’t pay for anything if they don’t have the cash. For years, we have depended on others to foot our bills – and now it’s all going away. Last year Congress ended the $400 million annual subsidy to help rural counties for local line items. Counties also used to receive a share of timber revenues from logging companies. We chased that money away to save the spotted owl. The result: No more libraries. Probably time to get a sales tax so we can pay our own bills. I hereby declare the honeymoon officially over!
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