LITTLE ROCK — Central Arkansas Library System is looking at going to the voters in March for a $32 million bond refinancing that will pay off old debt and raise additional money to purchase property and expand the Arkansas Studies Institute.
Bobby Roberts, the library system’s director, said Thursday that he intended to turn over petitions he collected earlier this year from Little Rock voters to the city clerk next month.
He didn’t have a more specific date yet for the election, which would reduce Little Rock property owner’s library millage from 1 mill to nine-tenths of a mill but extend the life of the bond. A mill is one-tenth of a cent, with each mill producing $1 in tax revenue for each $1,000 of valuation.
Library trustees earlier this year approved holding the bond election, but in April decided to put it off because the city announced it was seeking a sales-tax increase. Little Rock voters approved a sales-tax increase in September.
Roberts said he was ready to restart the process, which involves turning over petitions to Little Rock city directors, who have to approve calling the spring election.
Roberts said he hopes voters will approve reissuing a 2004 bond to build more storage space for the Arkansas Studies Institute in Little Rock’s River Market District, buy new books and computers, expand the McMath Library and purchase land in west Little Rock for a future branch. The projects total $17 million.
Roughly $10 million would go toward paying off debt remaining from the 2004 bond issue, which was originally for $25 million. Another $4.12 million hasn’t been allocated, and that number might grow as more of the 2004 debt is paid off before new bonds could be issued.
For the owner of a house valued at $139,200 - the median value of an owner-occupied home in Little Rock in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau - the library’s proposed bond issue would add $89.16 to the tax bill over 18 years, or about $4.95 a year.
Without the election, the 2004 bonds mature in 2024 if not paid off earlier. The term of the proposed bond would depend on the election’s timing.
If Little Rock voters approve reissuing the bonds, it would be the fourth time they’ve done so after an original bond issue of $17 million in 1994 to construct new library buildings. The original bonds were supposed to expire in 2002.
Voters authorized reissues of the bonds in 1998 and 2004, generating $15.6 million the most recent time mostly for construction of the $21 million Arkansas Studies Institute. The 2004 bond issue was actually for $25 million, which paid off about $9 million of debt from the previous bond issue.
Over the years, the elections that reissued the bonds reduced the tax from 2 mills to 1 mill.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 10/29/2011