The St. Charles County Library District has proposed building three new branches, renovating existing ones and buying new books as part of a multimillion-dollar plan.
A proposed branch in Lake Saint Louis was among the plans reported by STLtoday.com.
The Cliff View branch is in Wentzville, per the same report. The proposal also includes renovations to existing branches.
A District Still Recovering From Deep Cuts
The proposal comes after a rocky stretch for the library system. The district reduced its workforce by 13% through attrition and cut spending on books and digital materials by 9%, the station's report notes.
Library District Leadership
John is CEO of the St. Charles County Library District.
A different library system in the region recently considered closing branches amid spending pressures. In May, another library district proposed closing three branches, according to STLtoday.com's reporting.
A Different District's Closure Fight
That comparison points to the St. Charles City-County Library District, a separate system from the one asking voters for a tax increase. That district's board had considered closing three medium-sized branches, with closures potentially starting as early as June 30, according to KSDK. The board later tabled the closure proposal indefinitely, while officials reconsidered how to maintain services while reducing spending, KSDK reported separately.
That district's CEO, Jason Kuhl, said at a Cottleville-Weldon Spring chamber event that it had been 30 years since the City-County Library District asked taxpayers for a tax increase, with no current plan to do so, as reported by Mid Rivers Newsmagazine. Kuhl noted the district had added six locations since voters last approved an increase in 1994. Reports on the district's revenue reliance on property taxes have varied: Mid Rivers Newsmagazine quoted Kuhl putting that share at 95%, while another account put it at 93%.
Missouri law outlines how library tax elections are handled. Section 182.020(1) says that after voters approve establishing a county library district and its tax, the county governing body records the result and levies the tax. Subsection 4 addresses an election to increase an existing tax and sets out the ballot question, according to the Missouri Revisor of Statutes.
