Increased taxes focus of Ashland library issue

ASHLAND — In 1999, Ashland got its first library. It was a 30-year-old retired bookmobile that stayed open 20 hours a week in the parking lot of Ashland Baptist Church. In 2000, the makeshift facility got an upgrade when 150 volunteers and staff helped transfer books into the new Southern Boone County Library, a rented office building on Broadway.

The story of Ashland’s library may not be over. On April 3, voters in the Boone County Library District will choose whether to approve a 21-cent increase in the district’s property tax levy for an 11,000-square-foot library in Ashland and another library just north of the Boone County Fairgrounds.

The owner of a house assessed at $100,000 in the Boone County Library District would pay a total of $96.634 a year in taxes, an addition of $39.90 to the current $56.73. Allan Helland, a librarian at the Ashland library since 2001, said that the extra space and equipment of a new library would be a welcome upgrade.

“It would be nice to have better facilities,” said Helland, pointing out the small scale of the building and single meeting room. “It would give us more room to grow.”

Ashland’s current library is about 3,330 square feet. The new library, which would be built on Henry Clay Boulevard, would be almost triple that size. It would house 40,000 volumes, double the number it currently holds, and support 10 public access computers.

Kit Salter, a retired MU professor who lives in Ashland, said that a new library would be an important addition to Ashland.

Salter said the artistic design of the library would lend not only space, but architectural importance to the area.

“It will help create a grander community bond between the several thousand people who flow through this community,” he said.

The new library was designed by Renner Howell Architects and Bottino Grund Architects, the same team that designed the Columbia Public library. Salter helped coordinate a community forum in Ashland during the early stages of planning.

“People were eager about the library,” Salter said. “They wanted it to happen.”

Still, there is a question of whether interest will translate into support of a property tax increase on the ballot.

“I think there are mixed feelings about it,” Hartsburg Mayor Nancy Grant said. “There are those who support it whole-heartedly, others who feel that it’s too expensive as it’s currently planned ... and probably a handful of people who think that it shouldn’t be built at all.”

The total cost of the Ashland library is projected to cost more than $5 million and would open in 2009.

Grant said she supports the tax and the plans for the new library. Southern Boone County is growing fast, she said, and needs a library that can grow with it.

Though the feelings of voters may be mixed, for Alisha Roberts, 14, of Ashland, the decision is easy.

“I come to the library about twice a month right now,” said Roberts, who was spending one of her spring break afternoons checking out mystery novels, “If they build a new library, I’ll probably go every day.”