By Michelle Mears, Rolling Hills Library Director
While it may be floating underneath your daily radar, public libraries are definitely in danger at this moment. Between a complete elimination of all federal funding for libraries and efforts to quietly reduce state property tax assessment rates, the public library as you know it may not look or feel the same if some of these changes come to fruition.
The federal budget crisis will not be solved on the backs of public libraries. The relatively small amount of funds allocated for Missouri libraries pays for statewide services like courier delivery, interlibrary loan, and summer reading grants. We may have to limit or eliminate borrowing from other libraries if we can’t afford the connection fees or the postage to borrow and lend items to libraries across the state and across the country. This service is one of the things that has always made libraries special.
This year, we applied for a summer reading grant to help cover the costs of providing a reading program for all ages. But the State Library first told us that half our grant was gone, then said that it was back, and now we don’t know what to believe since the courts have put an injunction on the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the federal department that distributes funds to the states.
State legislators have also been busy wanting to lower tax rates, which would give away local tax dollars that have been approved by voters. It may seem like small potatoes, but assessing personal property, like motor vehicles, at 31% instead of 33.33% will put a significant dent in our expected income if this passes and is signed into law. Residents of our library district approved a tax rate based on the valuation of property and the kind of services they wanted from their public library, which we will be hard pressed to provide as revenue shrinks.
For those who have never lived anywhere but Missouri, you need to understand taxes here are not high compared to other locations. You won’t get clean, safe, and educated communities without spending public tax dollars to get them.
As we get ready for our new fiscal year to begin on July 1 and we prepare to move to our new facility in St. Joseph in 2026, it is only prudent that we look at how and where we can tighten our belts. If it turns out that things are fine, then it was just a precaution. If not, then we will be in a good position to keep providing the best library service possible.
We won’t fade away. We are here to help you in any way that we can. We’re building the kind of library we can be proud of and that you deserve, because the right to read is for everyone.
