Tax increase's downfalls were location and expense

By nearly a 3-1 margin, voters closed the book on a property tax increase for the construction and operation of two libraries in Boone County.

The levy increase was opposed by 10,080 voters or 73.15 percent. Yes votes totaled 3,699 or 26.85 percent.

The proposal would have increased property taxes in the Boone County Library District by 21 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to finance an 11,000-square-foot branch in Ashland and a 15,000- to 20,000-square-foot branch in northern Columbia.

Library officials said Tuesday night that they will now focus on a tax to fund construction of a permanent library in Ashland. The present library, located in a rented building, opened in 2000.

“The next step is to look at a new Southern Boone County facility,” said Jessica Robinson of the Boone County Library Board. “The current

branch can’t keep up with the population increase.”

She said the library plans to hold more public meetings in the Ashland area.

John Schloot, executive director of the Hallsville Chamber of Commerce, engineered a last-minute opposition campaign. On Tuesday, Schloot said he found overwhelming opposition to the tax in northern Boone County from residents who felt the northern branch was not far enough north to serve Hallsville and beyond.

Now that the tax has failed, he said, he hopes a dialogue can begin about the best place to put a northern branch.

Schloot and others from Hallsville have been invited to attend the next meeting of the Daniel Boone Regional Library.

“We’re seeing a trend nationally, where basic community services like libraries are losing support,” Robinson said. Though the tax failed, she expressed optimism about future support for library services.

“Boone County is continuing to grow ... and we will continue to look for the best way to provide services,” said Melissa Carr, director of the Daniel Boone Regional Library.

Earlier Tuesday, William Anglen said the tax was the reason he voted. “It’s an excessive amount of money,” he said outside the polls at Blue Ridge Elementary School.

Erin Barbaro, 28, another voter at Blue Ridge Elementary, said she supported the tax. “It’s a great thing for the community, and more libraries is a good thing,” she said.

For Jim Schwartz, 55, the proposed location and design were drawbacks. “It doesn’t help people in the north of the county,” he said.

The total cost of the two libraries was projected at more than $15 million, and the same firm that designed the library in Columbia, Bottino Grund Architects, was the library board’s architect of choice. The southern branch was to be built in Ashland on land already owned by the library.

The northern branch was to be built on the Atkins tract at the Boone County Fairground. The Columbia City Council voted unanimously Monday to give the library a five-year option to obtain the land in exchange for $165,000 toward the cost of extending Waco Road.

Branching Out: Yes for Libraries and Literacy, a campaign group headed by Don Stamper of the Central Missouri Development Council and Teresa Maledy, president of Commerce Bank, hired consulting firm TreecePhillips to oversee the campaign. The group reported raising $10,365 through March 22; it had an original fund-raising goal of $46,000.

“The citizens in our communities say they value libraries,” Maledy said, “but when it comes down to dollars, people are resistant.”