Posted: Saturday, March 8, 2008 12:00 am
Not much is lost because the Linn Library League has decided against trying to get its tax district proposal on the ballot this year and to try again for 2010. In fact, the delay offers an opportunity to explore another way.
Not much is lost now because public library service continues in Albany and the other cities that offer it. Everybody in Linn County has access to the public libraries in the cities. Residents and property owners living outside the cities can check out materials for an annual fee which in most cases is less than the library tax - existing in the cities and proposed in the county - on the average house. In short, nobody who wants library service is barred from getting it under the present system.
Supporters of the special tax district have a noble goal. Because they know it would be good for people and the community at large, they want improved library service. A district could provide this because it would receive more tax revenue than the separate city libraries now get.
But this is not the best time to push for a tax increase, especially on rural property owners. Because of typically longer commutes, the price of fuel alone is making their life more expensive, and it's doubtful that a majority of them would have backed the proposal if it had made it to the ballot this year.
One objection to the district was that it would amount to yet another level of taxing authority and government. In 1994, Benton County found a better way. It formed a library district but put the county commissioners in charge of it. For a modest maximum tax rate of 39 cents per thousand, all Benton residents outside of Albany get the excellent library service that the Linn league wants in Linn.
The pause in the league drive now offers a chance to explore again something similar to Benton's approach, or perhaps a county subvention to let all county residents use whatever city library they wish.
The small group making up the Linn Library League has done the public a service. These people have valiantly called attention to public libraries as a crucial service that gives young and old a chance to keep learning, to entertain themselves in a wholesome way, and to expand their minds with both old and new media.
Having made that point more than once, they will be remembered in city budget discussions over the next two years, especially if Albany and the other towns feel a budget pinch from the slowing economy.
To appreciate public libraries, you have only to see young parents make weekly runs to the local branch so they can check out handfuls of little books to read or look at with their toddlers - and then to listen as those children become literate before your very eyes and ears.
Let no one even think of cutting back on that essential service, so important in our deteriorating culture as a civilizing force for good.