American LibrariesSearch American Libraries  |
||
Site Navigation
Left Sidebar ItemsOnline Features
|
||
Jackson County Voters Reject Levy That Would Reopen LibrariesVoters in Jackson County, Oregon, decisively rejected a property tax levy May 15 that would have reopened the county’s library system, which shut down April 6. The proposal, which would have raised $8.3 million annually, lost by a vote of 58–42%.“It’s a discouraging day for the libraries and the people of Jackson County,” Joe Davis, chairman of the Save Our Library System campaign, said in the May 16 Medford Mail Tribune, adding that the defeat did not mean residents don’t support the libraries but rather that they opposed this method of funding them. Realtor Don Rist, who campaigned against the levy, pointed out that it lost by virtually that same margin as a similar measure last year that was defeated by 59–41%. “Instead of coming up with something new, they did the same thing as last November,” said Rist, who told the Mail Tribune that voters were likely reluctant to pay more property taxes after approving a school bond last November. The system’s financial crisis results from Congress’s failure last year to renew the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act of 2000, a timber subsidy to communities whose revenue relies on the logging industry, leaving Jackson County with a $23-million shortfall. Congress recently attached a five-year extension of the payments to an emergency supplemental bill for funding the Iraq war, but the measure was vetoed by President Bush May 2 for its inclusion of a deadline for troop withdrawal. The House passed a bill May 10 that includes a one-year extension of the timber subsidy. Four other timber-dependent Oregon counties placed tax increases on their May 15 ballots; all were overwhelmingly defeated. The May 17 Grant’s Pass Daily Courier reported that Josephine County has shifted the library’s budget to other county services, resulting in the immediate closure of the main library and two branches; the Wolf Creek branch will be open one day a week as a reading room, since closing it would force the county to refund a state grant used to construct the facility. Posted May 21, 2007. |
Right Sidebar
|
|
