Sherwood voters will decide in the Nov. 4 general election whether to replace the city's 25-year-old library, the oldest in the Central Arkansas Library System and the smallest branch in Pulaski County, with a larger, technologically updated building.
As attendance increases at Amy Sanders Library, 31 Shelby Road, the size and the wear and tear on the structure are becoming more apparent, said Lee Ann Blackwell, spokesman for the library system.
"Today, it is a worn building," she said. "It no longer serves the needs of a modern, dynamic community like Sherwood and should be replaced."
Sherwood's City Council decided in June to include the proposal on the general election ballot.
Voters will be asked to approve a temporary 1.3-mill property tax. A mill is one-tenth of a cent. If approved, a resident owning a $150,000 home would pay an additional $39 on the home's annual property-tax bill.
Revenue from the tax would go toward repaying up to $6 million in bonds, which would be used to buy land and build and equip a new library.
Mayoral candidate Doris Anderson said she opposes the millage proposal because there are more "urgent needs" that the city should address.
"Priorities have to be set," Anderson said. "There are drainage issues, and we need to fix roads, curbs, gutters, sidewalks. Basic needs have to be met."
Petitioners who requested the millage vote had asked for a special election to be set earlier this year because the city has to set its millage rate by October. However, some aldermen said they wanted the vote to be held in November to improve voter turnout on the issue.
The current library is about 8,500 square feet, and the new library -- the Amy Sanders Library and Family Center -- would be about 14,000 square feet, Central Arkansas Library System director Bobby Roberts has said.
Though there is not yet an official design for the new building, the space would allow for more programs, books, computers and parking, as well as the addition of a meeting room, Blackwell said. If the proposal is approved, the system will hold public meetings about what should be included.
Because the current library is landlocked and has a small parking lot, a new structure would have to be built at a different site, which hasn't been chosen, Mayor Virginia Hillman said. Blackwell said it would take about two years to construct the building.
Don Berry, another mayoral candidate, said a design or virtual tour of the new library should have been made available to Sherwood voters before the general election.
"I expected there would be a model so people could tell what it was before spending money," Berry said. "They're not going to tell you where it is and what it looks like."
Though the library is small, its use has been increasing -- especially its children's section.
According to library figures, the branch had 116,268 patrons in 2013, an increase from 113,185 in 2012 and 108,786 in 2011. In 2013, approximately half of Sherwood's population had active library cards, figures show.
Roberts has said the branch has one of the most successful children's libraries in the system. Hillman said those petitioning for the new building requested a larger space for children's programs because there has been increased participation in the children's reading program.
A new library would boost the number of patrons even more, Blackwell said.
Jacksonville voters decided in 2005 to approve a 1-mill property tax for the construction of a new Esther D. Nixon library, which was opened in 2009. The previous structure had been built in the late 1960s.
Blackwell said the branch's yearly attendance was 109,000 in 2008, but it jumped to 163,000 in 2013.
"The numbers show that a new library does make a difference," she added.
Metro on 10/18/2014