“Taney County is the only first-class county in Missouri without a
countywide library district.”
My response to the above statement is, ‘So what’? And, just
how will additional funds, aimed at two private libraries in Forsyth and Branson (sorry Rockaway – you
got lost somehow in the shuffle), create a ‘countywide’
impact. Will they be used to purchase bookmobiles? I’m confused on that point.
Yet, apparently, this is pretty much the sole reason that
voters will be asked whether they want to shell out 15 cents for every $100 in
accessed property valuation when the so-call ‘library tax levy’ comes up for
vote on April the 2nd.
Would someone be so kind as to point me in the direction of
where I can find a study done by the
Taney County Commissioners that shows something a little more substantive than
the apparent opinions of two of its members, notably Danny Strahan and Ron
Houseman? Was there even a simple poll done, early on, to see how us resident
voters felt about the issue? (I never saw one, but perhaps I overslept the day
it came out).
While I am a big fan of libraries in general and want to support them, I’m not
such a big fan of the current government that surrounds and funds them. And, I’m
definitely not in favor of supplying the funds using the property tax
assessments as the sole carrying vehicle. If this issue is important enough to
a majority of the residents, let’s propose it is as a separate tax altogether. Or,
would that be too tough?
