- The Jackson District Library is asking voters this November to renew its expiring millage.
- The millage — 1.7411 — will cost the average County homeowner about $113 per year.
- The millage provides about 90% of the Library's operating budget.
- Video shows Library Director Liz Breed and Jackson County neighbors discussing the millage vote and the value to them of the Library.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
"It was really important to us and the Library Board not to raise the rate. We wanted to keep it at a renewal," says Jackson District Library Director Liz Breed.
Voters in Jackson County will decide this November whether to continue funding the Jackson District Library at its present level. The current millage pays for about 90% of the Library's operating costs.
With 13 branches around the County, the Library serves as more than just a place to borrow a book.
For neighbors like Julie Samples, it's a technology lifeline.
"I'm like in the Stone Age," says Samples. "I don't have any internet. And this is the only place I can get internet."
"Internet is a big service that we provide," notes Breed. "That's something a lot of people rely on. They can't afford their own access."
That service also includes checking out internet hot spots.
Johnnie McGuire says he'll be voting for the millage: "I like the Library — the things it has to offer. The community needs that."
But, in a time of rising costs, Jackson neighbor Kim Randolph says she can feel overwhelmed: "You know, people who own houses are just getting squeezed."
According to the library, its millage costs an average Jackson County homeowner about $113 per year.
Concord neighbor Amy Hawkins plans to vote no — she says voters need to look at the bigger picture.
"You have to judge it in context, with everything else on the plate," she says.
Hawkins says with more millages on the ballot this year...and in the near future, it all adds up:
"There's only one checkbook. There's only one taxpayer. And that taxpayer has to decide: if I'm going to pay millages over the next few years, where do I want my money to go?"
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