Voters reject Sugar Grove library question

Sugar Grove Library District voters again rejected a request for more tax money. Unofficial results Tuesday night indicated 66 percent of the 2,851 voters said "no" to raising the property tax rate limit to 20 cents per $100 of equalized assessed value. Twenty-nine percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

"The library staff are dedicated to giving the best service they can on the funds they have available," library Director Beverly Holmes Hughes said Tuesday night. The library is open 44 hours per week, more than 20 fewer than neighboring libraries. Officials intended to add 20 hours if the tax increase had been approved.

The library has a 15-cent rate limit. But the property tax levy cap law, which limits the annual actual dollar amount of increases to the lesser of 5 percent or the rate of inflation, has prevented it from collecting more than about 9 cents per $100 in recent years.