Letter: Library fee is food for the brain
To the community,
For the price of for lattes or four beers or three glasses of wine a year, voters can keep our library open five days a week.
Many of us are fortunate enough to have home computers and Internet, which means that we can download audio books and ebooks for no cost with our library cards. There are many students and others who are not as fortunate. Keeping computers and Internet available for those who don’t have home access is important. Good schools, a library, and beauty improve a community. Beauty we have, the library we could lose. This community uses our library every day: 1,700 people visit our library every week, 130,000 items are borrowed every year and 14,000 locals have library cards.
Rather than buy a best seller that we’ll read only once, we can borrow from the library, at no cost. Current newspapers, magazines, & a great collection of DVDs are available. Even my dog appreciates the free audio books as I take her for longer walks when I’m listening to a story.
About 25 years ago our library lost much of its budget and the hours were reduced to two days a week. There’s a very real chance that this could happen again. Please vote yes on Measure L to keep our library open at its current level.
Diana Hamilton, South Lake Tahoe
There are many of us here in Tahoe who do not go out for lattes or beers or wine. We can’t afford to. We’re already paying more in property taxes than we are for our mortgages.
I love the library. I don’t go more than a couple of times a year, but I agree that it’s a valuable resource. I happen to be of the opinion that there is more than enough money available in the general fund to support our library without an extra tax. But it’s an easy sell to the voters, especially those who rent, so that’s where it will stand. I understand why people will vote for this tax. But you should understand that you’re all being conned by the politicians.
Dog, this isnt a new tax and I would have guessed that you of all people would be against it because, god forbid, you might have an opportunity to be a part of something positive for our community. Wouldnt expect you to show any compassion towards community if it means you have to contribute to it through (ooohhhh, here it is, the nasty word, oohhhhhh) taxes. So please stay away from the big bad library that only exists because we all contribute our tax money to keep it available to all.
Where did I say it was a “new” tax?
I explained my position on the issue, YOU choose to attack me. As usual. Why not try paying attention to the point instead of to who is making it?
I simply found it rather trite that someone would suggest that it’s ONLY the price of a couple of lattes; as if EVERYONE drinks a latte every day. . .
It is a new tax, or a continuation of an old one either way, it’s new. Libraries are outdated and unnecessary.
Scott I could not agree with you more libraries are out dated and expensive to run times have changed . Move the library into the high schools were we all pay taxes
Or is that to simple ?
Why isn’t the library consolidated with the library at Lake Tahoe Community College, both of which are seeking bond measures for additional funding and higher taxes?
And why are Nevada residents allowed to get South Lake Tahoe Library cards at no charge, with no commensurate funding or tax contribution?
Legitimate questions astute and informed taxpayers should be asking before automatically agreeing to higher or continued taxes.
My point is that many people do buy coffee/beer/wine regularly & that the yearly cost of supporting the library amounts to just a few of these drinks per year. I rarely spend my money that way, either, Dogula, it is just an attempt to put the cost into perspective.
This is the continuation of a tax that two thirds of this community voted in after county funding for the library was drastically slashed. The current use statistics show that the library is far from unnecessary.
The high school campus isn’t open to the adult community, locals or visitors, and isn’t likely to be with security concerns.
Our public library is welcoming all ages with programs & learning opportunities for a variety of interests. There is free WiFi with no need to buy coffee or food, free computer time, free e-book & audio book downloads. There is free instruction on how to use a tablet or smart phone, and basic computer skills for accessing email or doing research. Of course none of this is truly free. These are services that we support with our taxes.
The college library, although open to the public, has an academic focus for their students. They have an entirely different cataloging system, Library of Congress rather than the Dewey Decimal system typically used in high schools & public libraries. They don’t offer summer reading clubs or early reader programs for children. There isn’t nearly enough parking for all of the public library users.
The NV library at Zephyr Cove will add their bar code to our El Dorado Co. library card at no charge.
while I agree that our governing bodies ALWAYS seek a way to draw more revenue by line item taxing rather then funding through the general fund, I am committed to the sake of those folks who the library remains a very viable resource of information and education.
So despite how I disagree with spending in this city, county, and state as a homeowner, I’ll gladly support the tax to keep the library open regardless of the political principal that created this tax in the first place.
Yes on Measure L for me.
In addition to the actual property tax, the bill includes:
LTUSD bond 1992: $38.00
LTUSD bond 1999: $71.30
LTUSD bond 2008: $185.31
SLT Recreation CFDOO $18.00
CSA S Shore Snow $20.00
CSA3 Ambulance $24.60
CSA 3 Mosquito program $6.00
Litter Abatement $6.00
Hse Hazard Waste $3.00
Lake Vly Fire Meas. M $20.00
plus the library tax $20?
Oh, and there’s also the separate bill we get now for Cal Fire, for $150.
That’s an extra $560 I pay every year on top of the “General Tax Levy” from the state.
Each one of those fees is for a purpose that is deemed important. Each of those fees is for services that used to come out of a general fund. Each one was passed by convincing the voters that it’s only the cost of a couple of cups of coffee out with your friends. How much else do we have to give up?
There’s a reason I cannot afford to go out for a glass of wine or a latte with my friends, and I’m sure there are a lot of other homeowners who feel the same way I do.
Enough is enough. There is no more blood to be drawn from this turnip.
Dog. That’s $47 per month/$1.56 per day to rebuild crumbling schools, keep the rec center open, snow removal in winter, ambulance service (just in case), kill mosquitoes, deal with litter bugs & hazard waste, put out fires and have our County Library.
The State and Counties had to cut back after ENRON scammed California for $28 Billion ten years ago. Governor Brown has righted the ship and is even trying to re-establish the rainy day fund. Until then…
Dogula:
Unless you live in an area where there is no local agency that provides fire protection services then your annual bill from Cal Fire should be $117.33 and not $150. If you’re being assessed $20 annually on your EDC tax bill for Lake Valley Fire Measure M you might want to check into that $32.67 overcharge from Cal Fire.
Using the amounts you listed and the percentages on the assessor’s tax bill I figure you live in a residence with land and improvements valued at about $427,000. I certainly don’t know when you purchased your residence but unless it was fairly recent it would have had a pretty good price tag for up here to appreciate to that amount. (I purchased my residence almost 15-years ago in a nice neighborhood on about 1/3 acre and it’s absolutely an OK house and it’s only appreciated to $301,500 for land and improvements.) Anyway, I figure since I’ve had the great good fortune to live in a time when people could actually earn a living wage, afford to buy a home, and basically have as good a life as they were willing to work for that I’m willing to pay my fair share to ensure that the people in the community where I live have what my parents were willing to dig into their pockets and provide for me and those in my generation—a good library and good public services. But then my folks believed they had an obligation to help improve society and to leave it a better place than the one they entered. Also, they were Republicans and not of the now highly criticized political party referred to as “the liberal democrats”. But in those days people of all political parties were willing to work together to make things better and they were willing to compromise to accomplish that, rather than like today when people just dig in their heels and insist on their way being the only way. It really was a kinder, gentler time, and people demonstrated their intellectual capacity by being polite and civilized even in disagreements.
Pretty good guess, 4mer!
They don’t tax you on what it actually costs you to build, they tax you on market value when you final. We had the misfortune to final the house we built in 2003. So we were assessed an enormous market value for a house that, since we drew it and built it ourselves, actually cost us half of that. Took us 3 years from start to finish. AND the assessor calls our house bigger than it actually is. Half the second story is an open loft, but for some reason, they call the entire top floor as living space.
This was supposed to be our forever home, having worked our way up to it over 25 years, but soon we will be selling it, because we can’t afford the taxes. Really.
Dog, do us all a favor and move if this USA thing isnt working for you. Im sure there wont be any library tax in Syria or Pakistan or well, you get the drift. Maybe our country can start using the money we spend on WAR for libraries. Yeah, thats a good idea…
I did visit the library and it was not quiet as a library should be. Staff was not even asking the noisy ADULTS to pipe down or shhh them. Come on library staff, get your house in order. In addition, if someone wants to pay the ten dollar fee to use one of the rooms,then let them do so as it is there for the people to use.
let’s make the overbuilt high school facilities, pretty much the state-of-art standard in south shore, paid for by all of us,
available to all of us.