SEARCY — Residents of Searcy will have the opportunity to vote Tuesday in a special election regarding a bond issue for a new public library in Searcy.
Searcy residents would be taxed a 3-mill property tax on real and personal property over the course of the 30-year bond, if approved.
Darla Ino, library director for the White County Regional Library System, said the payoff will likely take less than 20 years.
“Bonds of that type tend to pay off quickly,” Ino said.
Ino has worked for the Searcy Public Library since 1998. She became library director for the White County Regional Library System in 2010. Ino said she believes a tax is the best method for funding the new library.
“You want something that will consistently pay the debt off,” Ino said.
She said the majority of libraries in the country are funded by a local tax.
Max Hughes, a resident of Searcy, said he opposes the tax.
“The proposed library millage increase is the quintessential example of an egregious tax burden on a group of people, specifically targeting real property owners within the city limits of Searcy,” Hughes said. “This is a White County regional library; therefore, all taxes should be fairly proportioned and shared by everyone in the county, not just the citizens of Searcy.”
Hughes said the tax also unfairly burdens the business and industry owners within Searcy, making it less attractive and less financially viable for new businesses to locate in the city.
“Raising taxes for future funds necessary for infrastructure improvements or repairs in case of natural disasters could be affected dramatically if federal matching funds are not available,” Hughes said.
Ino said residents have questioned why all of White County will not be taxed.
“While it’s true that people who aren’t residents of Searcy use the library, in 2016,
73 percent of people who used the library had ZIP codes associated with Searcy,” Ino explained.
Jean Ann Bell, chairwoman of the Searcy Public Library, said it has needed more space since she came onto the board in 2001.
“Searcy has grown in population, and our library activity has increased dramatically,” Bell said.
“In 2015, we realized we could not wait any longer. In fact, we felt it was incumbent upon us to study carefully what could be done. Most libraries are built with some sort of community-based tax,” Bell said.
“We chose to ask Searcy voters for a 3-mill library tax because every town in the county owns and maintains its own library. The city of Searcy will own and maintain this library; therefore, we should not ask people in other communities to not only pay for their own library, but for Searcy’s, too,” Bell said.
“We’re a one-county regional library system,” Ino said. “Materials are transferred between branches, so everyone in the county uses all of the materials in the system and has access to them.”
There are eight libraries in the White County Regional Library System.
Ino said the median household appraised value in Searcy is about $113,000 — for that value, the cost of the tax would be about $5.66 a month per household, which adds up to almost $68 per year.
Ino said the current library is crowded and doesn’t have the space to provide many of the services the staff would like to offer.
“We do not have any meeting spaces or program spaces,” Ino said. “As time has passed, libraries have evolved, and we’re certainly more than just books.
“Libraries today are places for people to connect with information. People have educational presentations and traveling exhibits in libraries that we’re missing out on because we don’t have space for those things.”
We want to be able to host quality-of-life presentations, meeting sessions, informational and educational presentations,” Ino said.
“We want space to do computer classes, job-training seminars, things that are very useful to the community and fit well with the library’s mission,” she said.
“These are very vital services, and Searcy doesn’t have a facility that can accommodate that,” Ino said. “It’s a disservice to the community. We outgrew this library years ago.”
Ino said the new library would be near Berryhill Park.
“We know that we can’t stay here at our current location due to space restrictions. There is nothing available downtown that would fit our needs,” Ino said.
“We don’t want to put ourselves in a position to temporarily satisfy the need and have to revisit this problem in 10 or 15 years,” Ino added.
“We are building for the future,” Bell said.
“We want this building to last 50 years as our current facility has, and we want to be good stewards of our community’s resources,” Bell said.
“It’s next to a park,” Ino said. “We didn’t have to purchase the property, and access is great there.”
Ino said the new library would allow the staff to serve more people in the community.
“Many Arkansans don’t have access to high-speed internet. Even to apply for a job these days, you need access to high-speed internet, and you can’t do that on your cellphone,” Ino said.
“We also aren’t doing as much as we should do for kids and teens in the building we’re in now,” she said. “We’re so limited in what we do there. With more space, we could offer homework assistance and programs for our teens and children — we could do a lot better for them.
“Libraries are accessible, and people who use the library are better readers and stronger learners. Those benefits are priceless — what we bring to the community.”
Ino said the new library would feature more space for collections, a conference room, a meeting room, a study room, a drive-up window to pick up books or drop them off and a coffee area.
“We’re going to try to make it easier to use and more attractive. We know that the new library will draw in more people,” Ino said.
She said the new library wouldn’t be a burden, but an opportunity to make Searcy a much better place to live.
“New people in town will come in and actually ask if this is it — if this is the public library,” Ino said. “Sometimes they seem disappointed.”
Ino said $9.2 million to $9.8 million would go toward construction, and the remaining funds would go for furniture, equipment and items outside of construction.
Ino said grants and private donations would also decrease the amount of time it would take to pay off the bond.
“Before people give money, they want base funding demonstrated; then they can come in and give extra dollars,” Ino said.
“Our fervent hope is that the majority of Searcy voters will join us in meeting critical library needs,” Bell said.
If approved, Ino said, the construction of the library is scheduled to begin in December this year or early next year.
The projected grand opening would be in March 2019.
Early voting began Tuesday at the County Clerk’s Office, and four polling places will be open throughout Searcy next Tuesday.
Polling places include the Carmichael Community Center, the Downtown Church of Christ, First Assembly of God and West Race Baptist Church.
Staff writer Kayla Baugh can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or kbaugh@arkansasonline.com.