From the Arkansas Advocate:
Garland County residents await a decision from county officials on whether they’ll get to vote in November to reduce the property tax that funds the local library, a supporter of the measure said Monday.
George Pritchett was one of the supporters who collected about 130 signatures from registered Garland County voters, more than the 100 necessary to qualify for the countywide ballot, and submitted them Friday afternoon, he said. The county clerk is expected to decide this week whether the measure qualifies, and Pritchett said supporters are “confident” it will.
The proposal would reduce the 1.6-mill tax, approved by county voters in 1998, to 1.0 mills. An earlier version of the measure sought to eliminate the tax completely, but supporters altered it after county residents raised concerns that the library would close without the tax funding, which Pritchett has said is a “misconception” and not the goal of the measure.
If the measure is successful, Garland County would be Arkansas’ second county in two years, after Craighead County, to vote to reduce its library system’s tax revenue. Pritchett has said the Garland County effort is based on the one in Craighead County, a narrowly-approved 2022 measure that cut the libraries’ funding in half and forced the system to reduce its hours and staff.
Pritchett and Reggie Cowan, who also supports the measure, have said the Garland County library receives too much tax money and can function on its cash reserves, which total millions. They have also said library funding would be in the hands of the county quorum court.
Garland County Library Executive Director Adam Webb has said this is not true. He bases the library’s budget every year on “anticipated revenue,” which would be nonexistent if the property tax were abolished.
The current millage brings in roughly $3.6 million annually for Garland County Library maintenance and operations, Webb said in July.
The proposed 0.6-mill tax reduction would cut the library’s budget by $1 million and might force it to reduce its hours or limit its more expensive services, Webb said. He declined to comment Monday on the submission of the petition.
The Garland County Library’s 2024 budget anticipated $4.1 million in revenue and $3.9 million in expenses, leaving about $200,000.
Library systems in other Arkansas counties, including neighboring Saline County, have seen recent scrutiny from the public about how much money they have and how they spend it.
