Why group wants new library district in Elk Grove Township
A proposal to create a new library district in the unincorporated area between Des Plaines and Elk Grove Village is moving forward, with the chance that one or both of those towns' libraries could one day offer resident library cards to those who currently can't obtain them.
Elk Grove Township District 59 school board member Tim Burns, a former Elk Grove Village library board member, is spearheading an effort to create a new library district that fits the same boundaries of the Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District, a 2.5-square-mile area roughly bounded by Dempster Avenue, Elmhurst Road, Busse Road and Touhy Avenue.
The new library district would use property taxes to contract with the Des Plaines or Elk Grove Village municipal libraries, allowing the 12,500 residents who live in the unincorporated area to be able to use library services without paying a nonresident fee.
Burns' proposal doesn't call for a new free-standing library building or the employment of any staff. A board of trustees would be responsible for handling the estimated $350,000 that could be raised through property taxes every year — most of which could be paid to either Des Plaines or Elk Grove to allow the use of their libraries.
Burns late last year proposed the idea of expanding library service to unincorporated residents — particularly the 1,000 students who attend Byrd, Rupley, Salt Creek and Grove schools in District 59 but don't have a library to go to.
The area includes four mobile home communities, a condominium complex and an apartment complex.
“I think there's a pent-up demand for equality,” Burns said. “A library is supposed to help pull you up from your bootstraps. It's a tool for upward social mobility.”
Burns and a committee of volunteers are planning to go door to door after Thanksgiving to collect signatures to get a referendum on the November 2016 ballot. The question would ask voters in the unincorporated area whether they want to create a new taxing district for library services.
The district would be named the Firefighter Richard Heller Memorial District Library, in honor of Heller, who died after suffering a heart attack while fighting a fire in April 1992 at the Touhy Mobile Home Park.
For the owner of a $100,000 home, the new library district would mean an additional $78 in annual property taxes, Burns estimates.
Des Plaines library officials are on board with the proposal, while Elk Grove officials haven't taken a position.
Just last week, Elk Grove's library board approved a measure allowing residents of unincorporated Elk Grove Township the option to pay the $200 nonresident library card fee in a 12-month installment plan. The plan allows for $35 to be paid the first month, followed by monthly $15 payments the rest of the year.
“This is one way of trying to work with nonresidents to make the payout more manageable and reasonable,” said Elk Grove Library Director Debra Nelson.
Des Plaines Library Director Holly Sorensen supports the creation of a new library district, and she said Des Plaines would be willing to contract with the new district if approved.
“It's an underserved little pocket right in our area, and there's been a lot of thinking of ways to get those kids and families library cards over the years,” she said. “I'm really happy Tim is putting this idea forward. ... We would be thrilled to be able to give library cards to those families.”
About 10 people currently have nonresident Des Plaines library cards — most of whom live in Rosemont, which pays 75 percent of the $280 library card fee.
For the Elk Grove library, there are 39 households with a total of 81 nonresident cards.
Supporters of the new library district have until March 1 to collect 100 signatures, before seeking the approval of a Cook County judge to get the measure on the ballot.