If you don’t help save our Library services,
who will?
When times are tough, you find out what people value. It’s hard to believe, but the Park Ridge City Council has reduced our library’s annual funding so much in recent years that in 2014-15, the library will receive $550,000 LESS (includes reduction in tax levy funding, and elimination of $100,000 in revenue sharing) than it did in 2008! The council refused the library’s request for a return to the 2008 funding level. Instead, it is asking the voters to decide the funding level in a binding referendum on the ballot in the November 4, 2014 election. A vote “Yes” will let the library begin restoring services it has had to cut, and will cost you approximately $87.58 per year for four years if your home is valued at $421,800.
A portion of the referendum states:
“Shall the annual library tax for maintenance and operation of the Park Ridge Public Library be increased from 0.150% to 0.368% for the four (4) levy years from 2014-2017.”
The wording in the referendum is misleading. The current levy for the library is .29%. If the referendum passes, the levy will be increased to .368%. If the referendum fails, the levy could be reduced drastically by the City Council. The library receives only 2.7 cents of every property tax dollar you pay, which makes it the best value in town – and the last place we should cut funding.
Don’t let it happen. Please urge your family, friends and neighbors to vote “Yes” on November 4 for the Library Referendum. If you can, please make a donation* so we can buy yard signs, flyers and postage to get the word out to all Park Ridge voters. Please make your check payable to Citizens Supporting the Library Referendum (CSLR) and mail it to
CSLR c/o Dick Van Metre
1506 S. Courtland
Park Ridge, IL 60068
If you’d like to volunteer, please contact us at saveourlibraryservices@gmail.com.
If you need further convincing, consider the following:
Property taxes have gone up but the library’s funding has gone DOWN three out of five years since 2009, even though the library averages 1,400 visits a day, and nearly two-thirds of Park Ridge households are library users. If your household is like most of ours, you’ve used the library more than ever during tough times and long winters.
While funding is down, the costs of books, DVDs and online services have gone up, and building repairs are going uncompleted. Reductions have resulted in fewer programs, fewer new books, DVDs and CDs, fewer online reference sources, fewer staff to help patrons, and continued delays on necessary building repairs. Cuts in programs and services in the Children's Department, the place where a love of reading, learning and communicating begins for so many of tomorrow’s leaders, have already been felt. Seniors, parents, job-seekers, students, people with low vision or special needs, adult learners, businesses, researchers, all-around booklovers and members of more than 65 local book clubs benefit from our library. The city also benefits because the library is a destination that attracts hundreds of users every day to Uptown restaurants and stores that generate tax revenues for the city.
With your help, we can save our library’s services and keep it the best value in town!
For important updates and additional information, please email us at saveourlibraryservices@gmail.com.
For more information go to the library’s website at: http://www.parkridgelibrary.org/referendum.aspx
*Your donation is not tax deductible.
Paid for by Citizens Supporting the Library Referendum.
A copy of our report will be filed with the State Board of Elections and will be available on the Board’s official website (www.elections.il.gov ) or for purchase from the State Board of Elections, Springfield, Illinois.