Funded libraries deliver limitless dividends

As a Library District supporter, I’d like to comment on one of its principal challenges: adding a new tax on individuals and businesses. It is a real concern. And the burden will be more difficult for those with limited means. But, at the same time, they will be the very residents who can benefit most from full funding.

There are solutions. Both the city and the county have full quivers of taxing and expenditure tools to assist in redressing inequities. County Commissioners and members of the City Council must think and act creatively: find ways in which to offset the mill tax for those who need it.

Over decades we have found reasons to tax ourselves to express community values and to achieve community goals. I think members of the council and County Commissions who oppose the district will be surprised — and, I hope ashamed — that even those with limited resources will overwhelmingly support taxes from which they can see immediate, direct and beneficial returns.

A fully-funded library system is a remarkably efficient, and virtually limitless, dividend-paying investment in our collective future, but, more importantly, it is an investment in each and every one of our children and grandchildren. Library District voters will see that, I believe.

If the district passes, everyone will have the opportunity to take credit for a lasting, positive legacy of public engagement that delivers powerful benefits to current and future residents. What Andrew Carnegie, the father of modern public libraries wrote about libraries more than a century ago rings true today: “Upon no foundation but that of popular education can man erect the structure of an enduring civilization.” — William J. Kramer, Boulder