Voting ends Tuesday on library millage in North Little Rock

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — The last two days to vote on a proposal to increase North Little Rock’s library system millage rate from 3 to 5 mills are approaching.

Early voting ends Monday at the Pulaski County Regional Building, 501 W. Markham St., Little Rock. Voting on Tuesday, which is the date of the special election, will be at registered voters’ precincts.

The ballot for the special election states that money from the increased millage will “be used for the maintenance and operation of the public libraries in the city of North Little Rock.” It would affect “real and personal property,” the ballot states.

This is the first request in 20 years for an increase in the amount of taxpayer funding the library receives.

The city’s library system has two branches — the William F. Laman Public Library main branch at 2801 S. Orange St. and the Argenta Branch Library at 420 Main St. The main branch includes a genealogy room, a full-service passport facility and an art gallery, according to the North Little Rock Public Library System website.

Crystal Gates, executive director of William F. Laman Public Library, said that the library will receive half a penny on $1 of taxable home value. The proposed plan would cost the owner of a $150,000 home in North Little Rock $5 more a month.

Infrastructure updates such as new plumbing, flooring, roofing and landscaping are “desperately needed,” as the Laman Library building is 60 years old.

A wheelchair ramp for children using the all-inclusive playground next to Laman is also a need.

The raise in millage would also allow for the library to be open later on Fridays and Saturdays.

Makala Crutchfield, a mother of two, said the extended hours would be beneficial to her family.

“I definitely support, approve, the increased millage to better equip our community for more higher quality resources, especially for our children,” she said.

Susan Caspar, a retired accountant in North Little Rock, said the library is “a legacy for the future.”

“We support education, my sister is a retired teacher and we want everybody to be educated in whatever ways they can get it,” she said.

The special election for the millage increase equates to the library re-joining the 21st century, Gates added. In the past 10 years, the cost of audio books has doubled and e-book purchasing options have changed from owning access to limited leasing, which must be renewed at an additional cost.

The library system also wants to provide more technology in their Maker’s Space areas with studio equipment for podcasts, music recording and video editing. Gates noted that the library’s sewing and quilting class sizes have grown and participants will need more equipment.

“We want to provide essential skills, especially to families that inflation has hit really hard,” Gates said.

Expanding study spaces by adding rooms on the children’s floor for students is also a goal, as many business entrepreneurs rent the upstairs rooms to conduct business.

The library system also wants to have a state-of-theart mobile library.

“We are proud to have our own, award-winning library in North Little Rock and are looking forward to expanding their outreach to underserved neighborhoods with a new mobile library,” said North Little Rock Mayor Terry Hartwick in a statement of support for the millage increase. “The libraries in our city have created innovative ways to maximize the return on investment for our citizens. The millage increase will allow the North Little Rock Libraries to continue to provide unique and educational opportunities for our entire city.”

If voters pass the raise in millage, the library will start collecting money in 2024 and make infrastructure and accessibility its main priorities. Gates said if voters do not approve the raise, the library will have to ask the community again in another election.

Property taxes in Arkansas provide much of the funding for public schools. Depending on the county or where a person lives within a county, the taxes may also pay for other things, such as libraries and sewer systems.

Counties in Arkansas assess property at 20% of the appraised value. The assessment is multiplied by the millage rate to determine the taxes owed. A mill is one-tenth of a cent or 0.001 of a dollar. Each mill is charged against each dollar of assessed value and would therefore produce $1 of tax for each $1,000 of valuation.

A North Little Rock property owner pays 66.8 mills in property taxes overall — including 48.3 mills for the North Little Rock School District, 5 mills for the municipal general fund, and 1 mill each for the police and fire pension funds, according to the Pulaski County treasurer’s office.

A 2-mill property tax increase for the library would cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $ 40 a year and the owner of a $50,000 home would pay an additional $20 a year.

Total property taxes for the owner of a $ 100,000 home would go from $1,336 to $ 1,376 if the 2- mill proposal is adopted by voters. The owner of a $ 50,000 home would see the tax bill increase from $668 to $688 a year.

In November 2021, Little Rock voters approved increasing the millage rate that funds operations and maintenance at the Central Arkansas Library System from 3.3 to 3.8 mills. Library officials sought the operational millage increase — the first such increase approved in Little Rock since 2007 — because of costs associated with new facilities and electronic materials as well as a shift away from relying on capital-improvement bond revenue to cover the materials budget.