I'm glad April is over because it wasn't such a great month for me. Among other things, I was depressed to see my community's voters reject the Library's fourth referendum request to fund a desperately needed expansion. I know about bad economies and the "no more taxes ever" mindset, but this time it was just $20 per year, and they lost by the same margin. Sometimes you just want to shake people until they wake up.
Anyway, I wrote a letter to the local papers, and thankfully they ran it. Here it is for posterity, mostly to make me feel better.
"Did you vote in the April 1 election this year? If not, count yourself among the silent majority in Will County.
But what a sad majority it is — 76 percent of you or your neighbors didn't feel it was important enough to vote this year. What message does that send to our children? How will we teach them about democracy, freedom and government by the people if 76 percent of us can't even take 10 minutes out of our day to exercise those rights?
The only thing worse than the fact that most Will County residents didn't vote is the fact that those in Homer Township who did couldn't find the common sense to approve the library's referendum request for an increase of just $20 a year.
Our library is bursting at the seams with books, computers, programs, people and services. Usage is up more than 320 percent during the last 15 years, and the numbers this year will be especially high because it's a proven fact that library use goes up during times of economic difficulties.
The library is currently working from the same tax (rate) as it was when it was first established more than 20 years ago. I repeat — there has been NO increase in its funding since 1982, despite the fact that usage is at an all-time high.
The library is a government entity (contrary to what the Illinois state's attorney first determined, thereby delaying the embezzlement case against the former library director yet again), so when an expansion is needed, its only recourse is to ask the voters for approval. It is also tax-capped, which means it'll see very little of the influx of money that new commercial building will bring into this area.
Even though the library prudently planned for an expansion that would have seen it through the next 20 years without having to come back to the voters during that time, the community forums that it held showed residents believed the cost of an additional $50 per year was too high. So what did the library do? Did it cut services when referendum questions were rejected? No. Did it close for part of the week? No. Did it double the amount requested? No. Instead, it expanded its hours and services to try to meet the growing demand.
In addition, it halved the amount so that the average homeowner would pay just $20 per year — not even the cost of a single hardcover book these days. And still the measure didn't pass due to the short-sightedness of this community.
There is no November election this year, which means the library cannot even put a referendum question back on the ballot until the spring of 2004.
Everyone knows construction costs go up, not down, so what should the library do in 2004? Ask for the same amount, which will net less than it would have this year? Or should it increase the request and risk angering voters who couldn't see how reasonable the request for $20 a year truly was?
Even if the library's 2004 request is approved, an expansion wouldn't open until 2006 due to the government-required bidding and construction process. What will have happened to this community by the year 2006? We'll have 500 more homes and town homes. We'll have more cars clogging our streets, more children in our classrooms and more stores lining our roads. More of everything, except space to house the additional strain that will be put on the library, our community's only true community center.
So the next time your children are at our library and it's too loud to study, or there are no parking spaces available, or it doesn't have the book you want because there was nowhere to house it, or you can't get into one of the computer classes because there's no room, or you have to wait twice as long in line to check out because there is no room for additional staff ... just remember that Homer Township residents voted for this — either by actively voting "no" or by choosing not to exercise their right to vote at all.
Yes, the Homer Township Public Library's referendum question failed, but the library and its staff didn't lose. No, that dubious distinction belongs only to Homer Township residents."
