Adventures in Libraryland: State law a factor in reduced library hours

Several people have stopped by my office recently to share their regrets that the library hours will be reduced as of Oct. 1.

I let them know that I share their frustration. Not to bang too hard on the "it's the economy" drum, I thought it would be good to explain why this decision was made.

The Marshall Public Library was established in 1990 when the voters agreed to fund the library with a tax levy of 20 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

It is a regrettable state of affairs that the library will be going into their 20th year with a reduction in hours, due in large part to the Hancock Amendment.

For those of you not familiar with the Hancock Amendment, here it is in a nutshell.

The purpose of the Hancock Amendment was to slow the tax increases caused by inflationary increases in property values.

Put more simply, if a library (or other tax supported service) will profit from a raise in property taxes, then the state can adjust the tax rate down.

How does this affect the Marshall Public Library? Although the community agreed to give the library 20 cents, the state says we only get 16.8 cents.

Four cents may not sound like a lot but it makes a big difference to the bottom line, especially when operating costs are going up and up and up.

And why did the state lower the rate? Because when the new assessment was done based the way the state demanded it be done, the library would have benefitted too much from the increase.

Now, I'm not saying I enjoy higher taxes.

What I'm saying is that the Hancock Amendment is worded in such a way that public services suffer when funds are available.

For example, let's say that a large company wants to set up headquarters in Marshall and hire 500 employees.

That means more home sales and construction.

This generates more taxes AND a higher demand on services like schools and libraries.

But because the Hancock Amendment is in place, the community can't benefit from the larger tax base.

Instead, the state lowers the rates, despite the fact that the community for whom the library serves voted in the original rate.

The result is what the library is facing now -- a reduction in hours in order to continue providing quality service with reduced funds.

But to keep our eye on the silver lining, it is good to note that the Marshall Public Library is STILL open more hours than one of the biggest libraries in Missouri, the St. Louis Public Library.

New materials

Fiction
--"Smash Cut" by Sandra Brown (suspense)
--"The Traffickers" by W.E.B. Griffin
--"Charlotte Leaves the Light On" by Annette Smith (inspirational)
--"The Apostle" by Brad Thor (thriller)
--"Best Friends Forever" by Jennifer Weiner.
Non-fiction
--"Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously" by Julie Powell
--"Prairie Tale" by Melissa Gilbert
--"Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson" by Ian Halperin

Have a question? Want to make a suggestion? Amy can be reached at crumpa@marshallpublib.org.