[Publib] RE: Library election results

[Eisenberg, Wendy]

Please add:
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/988820.html
Fresno County library bond

Library supporters couldn't manage the two-thirds majority needed to pass an increased sales tax to improve services at 32 libraries and build 16 new branches.

With all precincts reporting, Measure L was falling short with 62.4% of the vote. The measure gained ground throughout the night but never hit the required two-thirds margin.

"At least it's trending in the right direction," Deborah Ikeda, campaign chairwoman, said just before all precincts were counted. "It's just that two-thirds is tough."

Measure L would have increased the library sales tax from an eighth of a cent to a quarter-cent for 16 years, starting in 2009.

The measure would have replaced Measure B, the current eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that voters renewed in 2004. The existing tax expires in 2013.

Supporters said the tax measure would allow the library system to build branches in communities that don't have one.

Measure L also would replace or expand some of the run-down branches currently housed in rented storefronts.

Critics, however, said the faltering economy made this a bad time to ask residents to pay more taxes.

Wendy R. Eisenberg, Librarian
Talking Book Library for the Blind, Fresno CA
www.fresnolibrary.org/tblb
wendy.eisenberg at fresnolibrary.org
770 N San Pablo Ave, Fresno CA 93728
Ph (559) 488-3217
Fax (559) 488-1971

Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.--Anne Herbert