Huntley library releases details of referendum

The Huntley Area Public Library has outlined plans for its November referendum request.

The library plans to ask for a tax increase that would amount to an additional $60 a year for a resident who lives in a $250,000 home.

Residents who live in a $250,000 home are paying about $166 a year currently and would pay roughly $226 each year if voters approve a tax increase, Library Director Virginia Maravilla said.

The tax hike would allow the library to issue $9.5 million in bonds to build a 33,000-square-foot addition, Maravilla said.

The tax hike would also fund a $725,000 increase in the library's annual operating budget, Maravilla said.

This year's library budget is $2.5 million and the library will pay off $345,000 in bond debt this year, Maravilla said.

The increase in operating funds would allow the library to expand its collection and services and hire additional personnel to staff the addition, the library director said.

Officials said expansion is needed to meet a growing demand for the library's services.

The number of cardholders in the district, which includes Huntley and parts of Lake in the Hills and Algonquin, has increased from 4,800 in 1999 to 23,760 this year, Maravilla said.

The library has remained 15,000 square feet during that nine-year period, she said.

Voters rejected the library's 2005 referendum request, but Maravilla said she thinks the fall 2008 request will fare better.

"We've gotten more crowded and it's more visible to people," Maravilla said. "For so long, we tried to keep it so it wouldn't affect the public, and it finally did."

She said the proposed expansion is only about half the size of the 67,000-square-foot add-on the library proposed in 2005.

If voters approve the request, the addition could be open as soon as summer 2009, Maravilla said.

The library director said she plans to hold forums and visit community groups to educate the public about the referendum.

"If anybody would like us to come and talk to their group, we'd be happy to do that," she said.