Fayetteville Public Library looks to expand; millage vote Aug. 9

FAYETTEVILLE -- Voters will head to the polls Aug. 9 for a special election to decide whether to raise property taxes in order to help fund a proposed expansion at the library.

A referendum to raise the library's current 1 mill property tax levy to 3.7 mills will be on the ballot. The increase is divided between two questions: to raise the 1 mill city property tax by 1.5 mills for the library's maintenance and operation and to impose a 1.2 mill increase for the expansion's construction.

The increase for construction cannot go into effect unless the maintenance and operation increase passes, but the 1.5 raise could take effect if the 1.2 mill question fails.

The millage for the library has not been increased since 1948, library administrators have said. The increase of 1.5 mills for operation and maintenance would be permanent. The 1.2 mills for construction would end once the construction bonds are paid. When the bonds would be paid off depends on property values, but the library anticipates it would take about 20 years, said Willow Fitzgibbon, library spokeswoman.

The additional 2.7 mills would cost taxpayers an extra $54 per year for each assessed $100,000 of property owned.

The expansion could go one of two ways. The plan that was presented during a series of public input sessions earlier in July would add about 80,000 square feet of library building using the adjacent City Hospital land to the south.

The alternative plan would entail building upon the library's existing land.

Both the first plan, which the library's administration and Board of Trustees has deemed the preferred plan, and the alternative would cost roughly $49 million. The millage increase would cover $26.5 million of that, with the remaining $22.8 million covered by private donations.

The plan to expand southward hinges on a decision from the Arkansas Supreme Court. The sale of the former City Hospital land from Washington Regional Medical Center to the library for $2 million has been tied up in court since the heirs of the Stone family, who donated the land to the city a century ago, began fighting it.

The city traded the land to Washington Regional for 1 acre near the medical center for a roundabout. The Stone heirs brought their objections to court when Washington Regional sued to clear the land's title for sale.

Circuit and appeals court judges have ruled in favor of the land sale. The Supreme Court has since granted a petition to review the case, but a decision likely won't come until after the election.

The design process could begin in September, starting with a series of public meetings, if voters approve the millage increase and the City Hospital case is settled in the library's favor.

Bidding could start in 2017, with construction starting the year after that and finishing in 2020. If everything stays on schedule, the renovated library could be completed by 2021.

If the lawsuit doesn't go the library's way, the expansion primarily would go upward. The building's original architect, Jeffrey Scherer, designed it so that floors could be added. Scherer's firm, Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, also has come up with the preliminary designs for that expansion.

Either way, the plan would remain about the same, said Jack Poling, the project's lead architect since Scherer retired.

"As far as we're concerned, whether the building is expanded onto the hospital site or not, that's the budget that (the library) will be working with," he said. "So I guess from that perspective, you could say the cost would be the same, because that's what's being asked of the voters."

The library's needs will remain no matter the outcome of the Supreme Court case and the vote, library Executive Director David Johnson said.

"The longer we wait, the more expensive it gets, and the more critical it becomes, and then it becomes an emergency," he said. "And then the community has to make some really difficult decisions."

Making a case

The basic goal of expansion is to provide more meeting space, double the size of the children's library, create a standalone area for genealogy and local history research and increase parking from 220 spaces to 435.

The plan to expand kicked off after the library conducted its 2030 Master Plan study, which the Board of Trustees approved in 2013.

According to the library's statistics, about 185 people walk through its doors an hour. It had more than 619,000 visitors in 2015 compared to about 530,000 in 2005, one year after it opened. About 80 percent of Fayetteville's population has a library card, per their assessment, increasing from more than 48,000 cardholders in 2004 to more than 73,000 in 2015.

The library's 300,000 materials get turned over four times per year. Aside from that, the number of programs -- children, young adult, adult and outreach -- that it offered when it opened has increased from 608 in 2004 to 1,608 in 2015.

The library offered 1,772 programs in 2014, its highest ever. That number was cut by 164 the following year as a way to decrease expenditures and operate within its $4 million budget, even though attendance for those programs went from more than 72,000 in 2014 to more than 81,000 in 2015.

Fayetteville's population growth also concerns the library. By its projections, the library will serve 115,000 people by 2030 -- a 79 percent increase from the 64,000 it served in 2004.

How the new space would be used is based on a needs assessment. No matter which way it goes -- south to the City Hospital land or by adding floors to its existing site -- the breakdown will remain about the same, Johnson said.

Most of the total space after expansion, nearly 30 percent, would be used for things like bathrooms and elevators, he said. The second largest portion would be dedicated to materials and collections, "special use" like the coffee shop and about 10 percent for multipurpose and meeting space.

The idea is to be flexible. That multipurpose room could be fashioned into four rooms, for example, or used to seat hundreds of people for a keynote speaker, Johnson said.

Skip Rutherford, dean of the Clinton School of Public Service, has made a verbal agreement to bring internationally known speakers, like former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, to the library for free public events if the library can expand, Johnson said.

All of the library's needs culminate from what has been the trend across the country: library's are no longer places for people to simply check out books, he said.

"It might be that they're coming for a program, but it's not just entertainment," he said. "It's trying to connect people to information, and all the information doesn't have to come in the form of a book or a DVD."

Following the trend

What Fayetteville is trying to do with its library aligns with how libraries across the country have changed within the last decade or so, said Julie Todaro, president of the American Library Association. Libraries today are places to rent materials, to provide meeting space and to serve the public with a variety of programs, Todaro said.

The scope of what libraries contribute to society is as far-reaching as ever, she said. An estimated 4 million people per day visit the nation's libraries, seeking everything from digital information to help with their financial and health standing to a place from which to work and meet.

The American Library Association has conducted studies showing that libraries serve as a mainstay of economic development with about $4 returned on every $1 invested, she said. So even people who don't often visit a library have reason to vote to expand or keep one open, she said.

"Public libraries are an incredible investment in that area," Todaro said.

The Fayetteville Public Library's Board of Trustees has stayed up-to-date on the changing nature of libraries, which is why the collection, staff, facilities and programs at the library are comparable to those of any across the country, Johnson said.

"It seems like everyone in this community has their own library experience, and it's all positive," he said. "Those who come here come here for their thing, whatever it is. For some, it's just a coffee shop."

For Gladys Tiffany, the library serves as a place for the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology to talk about climate change once a month. The group has been meeting there for about six years, looking up and sharing reference materials on the topic and turning their knowledge into efforts to clean up Fayetteville. The group is about 15 people in a meeting, so they're able to reserve the Ann Henry Board Room.

The library doesn't charge small groups for space, but hourly rates can vary depending on the type of layout for a larger group and whether the group is a for-profit company or nonprofit. Nonprofits get a discount.

The OMNI Center does have its own location on Lee Avenue in north Fayetteville, but holding its climate change meetings at the library presents a more inviting atmosphere to members of the public who may not walk through the center's doors, she said.

They also could go to the Fayetteville Town Center, but the group can't afford the rates there, she said.

Sometimes the center's meetings grow large. The next best option for space to meet is the library's Walker Community Room, but it's too big, Tiffany said. Having a space with a size in between would be ideal, which is why Tiffany supports the expansion, she said.

Back and forth

The library can't use public money to campaign for the expansion, so a group called Build Fayetteville's Future took the reins. The group has raised $9,100 through a combination of public fundraisers and private donations, according to filings with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

No formal group against the library vote has filed with the Ethics Commission.

"I can tell you by and large, it's been positive," said Jeff Koenig, leader of Build Fayetteville's Future. "Less than one or two out of 15, I'd say, express any kind of concern on it."

The biggest concern Koenig has heard comes from people who are against the notion of raising property taxes, he said. Barbara McClelland and three of her friends who were playing Hand and Foot at the Fayetteville Senior Activity and Wellness Center on Wednesday are among those people.

McClelland said raising sales taxes might be a better way to go, adding that she felt that the library gets "a little overzealous" when talking about its needs.

"I think they need to find a better way to do it than to just increase the millage so that only property owners pay," she said. "I don't think that's fair because everybody gets to use it."

Supporters counter the relatively small increase in property taxes amounts to a huge increase in services that sees hundreds of thousands of visitors per year, Koenig said.

Sharon Reese, who was walking around the Fayetteville square Wednesday with her adult daughter, Margaret, said an increase in her property taxes does not trump her love for the library.

"I think the library is one of the shining points of Fayetteville," she said. "It's a wonderful designation for everybody."

NW News on 07/31/2016