St. Charles library request denied

St. Charles Public Library officials will continue to live in cramped quarters for at least two more years after voters Tuesday rejected a tax increase to double the size of the community asset.

Unofficial results showed both tax increase questions failing. The request for money to build the expansion failed by about 1,100 votes with only one precinct uncounted. The request for more money to operate the library failed by a larger margin, about 3,200 votes, with one outstanding precinct.

Library board President Victory Haines said those vote totals were close enough for trustees to feel justified about asking for a tax increase, even during a bad economy.

“Based on the economy today, I'd say we did well,” Haines said. “We wouldn't have done this if we didn't know that we had a huge base of support. We knew that it would be close. We were just hoping it would be closer in the other direction.”

Haines said she expected the question for construction money would receive more support than the request for more operating funds. Regardless of the outcome, Haines said, she believes the library is in a good position to try again in a couple of years if the economy is on the upswing.

Library officials knew they faced a daunting task of persuading voters to accept even a relatively modest property tax increase of $81 a year for the owner of a home that would sell for $300,000. But in the multiyear planning process that put all the pieces in line for the tax increase request, the one thing not envisioned was how to deal with an economy that's made all taxpayers a bit more frugal.

Library trustees tried to sell the expansion as the perfect time to build something as construction costs are lower than they've been in years. They also pushed the library as a particularly critical community asset at a time when taxpayers are struggling as the library provides many low-cost information sources. That includes resources for finding jobs when local unemployment is above the national average.

But that marketing appeared to not fit well with taxpayers' loss of disposable income. Even $81 was too much to spare for one of the taxing bodies with the lowest tax rates.

The outcome leaves two more years of planning and brainstorming for library supporters hopeful of a different outcome the next time around. The message will almost certainly be different as construction costs are expected to rise as the economy improves. Parking will continue to be cramped at the library in the interim, but the trustees will continue to oversee the land they acquired for the new parking lot across the street as they wait for their next crack at the ballot.