Library Board to ask council for millage increase support

The Forrest City Public Library Board is planning to ask voters to approve a millage increase for the library during the March 3 primary election. Meeting this week, board members learned the proposal to increase the library’s millage from 1.9 to 3 mills would need to be approved by the city council before it could be placed on the ballot. The board agreed a millage increase is needed to allow the library to continue its work in the community due to the uncertainty of state library funding, which has already been reduced this year. FCPL Director Arlisa Harris said she is working on messaging for the campaign and preparing a “question and answer” document outlining why the increase is needed, adding that she would appreciate the board’s input. “Before we go to the city council to ask them to approve this for the ballot, I want to make sure our messaging is on point,” said Harris. Harris also told the board she has recruited residents to serve on a campaign committee to promote the millage increase because the library cannot legally do that because it is a public entity. Harris said she has been working with a representative of EveryLibrary, a national organization that helps build voter support for libraries, and has given the names of the campaign committee to that organization. “She’s going to help them get their EIN (Employer Identification Number) and get them set up. They’ll be the ones doing the fundraising and asking people to vote favorably on the measure,” said Harris. “We can’t do that. We can ask people to vote, but we can’t ask them to vote one way or the other.” Harris said she had received information from St. Francis County Assessor Ginadell Adams regarding how much the millage increase would cost property owners. “She gave me an estimate of what it would look like for property owners if we were able to increase our mills to three. The additional millage would increase our library revenue an estimated $146,786 annually,” said Harris. “That would be wonderful if this state aid for libraries goes away,” said library board chair Lindsay Hodges. “Some more of that could be taken away. We just don’t know,” said Harris. “Also, this is an old building. We just don’t have the money to do everything. We have been using the bond improvement money but there wasn’t enough to do all of the improvements and the amphitheater project.” “It would be nice if we had money to fix some things instead of patching it if something goes wrong,” said Hodges. “And add programming,” said Harris. “There’s a lot we could do.” Board member Sandra Wright asked if Harris received an estimate as to how much the increase would cost property owners. “She said on a house valued at $75,000, the annual increase would be $16.50, which is $1.38 a month. A home valued at $200,000 would cost the property owner an additional $44 a year, which is about $3.67 a month,” said Harris, who noted that property owners will see a $50 increase next year in the Homestead Tax Credit. “We could argue you wouldn’t even notice the increase in our millage because of the Homestead credit increasing.” The board also visited via telephone with Graydon Ricker, with C&M Builders, about improvements that have to be made to the library’s front steps in order for the facility to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. New front doors were recently installed at the library, after which contractors realized more work was needed to be ADA compliant. The board reviewed a drawing showing new steps will be built over the current steps and instead of the front entrance having a single handrail, it will now have three. “The old steps will stay in position, except for a few at the bottom that we’ll break off. We’ll go over those old ones and use them as backfill then refinish the steps to make sure it all matches,” said Ricker, estimating the project would take only a few days to complete. “It has to be done,” said Hodges. “We put these pretty doors in and to be able to use them we have to do this, so I need a motion to authorize the project.” The board agreed to allow C&M to do the work at a cost of $22,840. In other business, board members learned that the final walkthrough on the amphitheater project was scheduled for this morning. The next step in the project will be the construction of the amphitheater’s pavilion. Ricker asked the board to share ideas with him as to how they want the pavilion to look. “In the next week or so, I’ll get a drawing together. I want y’all to put a few things down that y’all see as having in the pavilion, things y’all want, then we can see what we can do for the amount of money you have to spend,” he said. “Once we see the sketch, we can talk about the best materials and such,” added Hodges. In other business, Harris mentioned that she had recently visited with representatives of the Cara McCollum Birthday Book Foundation about them creating a story walk at the library. Harris explained that a story walk promotes literacy as well as physical activity. “People would walk a path and every so many feet there would be panels containing parts of the story. They would walk to the next panel to continue reading the story,” said Harris. “They would change the panels out regularly so it would not be the same story all the time.” According to Harris, the group would pay for the project. The board agreed that the best location would be the property recently purchased just southeast of the library. “I think it’s a great idea. I’m aware of story walks, but they’re not cheap,” said Harris. “They’re going to get everything together and come before the board to talk about the project.” “From what I understand, this will just help expand the Birthday Book Project,” said Hodges. The next board meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 17, at 3 p.m., at the library

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