Lib Politics Rodeo June 17, 2014
We reported last week that the Fort Smith Public Library system filed a petition for the City Directors to decide if a 2 millage levy should be included on the August 12th ballot. We are pleased to announce that the City Directors have approved the measure and the 2-mill increase will be put to vote on August 12th.
Welcome to the Lib Politics Rodeo.
Every Tuesday we will round up the previous week’s news on library politics and highlight some of the things that we are following or reading. Here’s what we have in our lassos this week…
This week the Rodeo was compiled and written with the help of our intern Rachel Korman.
News
We reported last week that the Fort Smith Public Library system filed a petition for the City Directors to decide if a 2 millage levy should be included on the August 12th ballot. We are pleased to announce that the City Directors have approved the measure and the 2-mill increase will be put to vote on August 12th.
We reported earlier this year (Feb. 5 Rodeo) that the Charleston County City Council approved a $103 million referendum for the library system on the November 4 ballot. This past week, the Charleston County Council Finance Committee voted to include the issue on the general election ballot for November in the form of a property tax increase, a result of solidifying the details and wording of the referendum over the past few months. Voters will decide whether to approve the tax increase and therefore approve Charleston County (SC) to issue general obligation bonds of up to $109 million for the library system. As discussed in the Feb. 5 Rodeo, these new funds would contribute to new renovations and upgrades in both the physical structures of the libraries as well as it’s technology resources and services.
A tax increase for voters of New Orleans is in the works to be included on the December election ballot, and although the details have not been decided upon, the struggling New Orleans Public Library system has been assured by Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the New Orleans City Council that they will be funded. The Mayor and City Council are currently creating a millage proposal that would contribute to the public library system, who will not be able to operate any of the 14 branches next year if this new millage is not introduced. The exact amount of the tax increase has not been decided, but the details will be confirmed by the July 24th deadline for City Council to request tax increases for the end of the year election.
The Rodeo will be off next week while we will be in Vegas for the 2014 ALA Annual Conference. We will be holding a board meeting on Monday evening of the conference. Keep an eye on our FB page for more details. Also, if you will be in Vegas, don't forget to join us at the ALA14 After Hours Party co-hosted by EveryLibrary, Mango Languages and Treehouse. We're celebrating the book release party for the Librarian Stereotype book with a 10pm toast. And it's open bar!
That’s all for today. Join us in a couple weeks for another round up. Happy trails.