CENTRAL POINT — City council members on Thursday declined to pass a resolution supporting a county tax levy on the ballot in May that would reopen recently closed libraries.
All told, two resolutions were on the council agenda, one asking the council to voice support of a library in Central Point and another asking for support of the pending levy after all 14 county libraries closed their doors on April 6.
"Basically council said, 'Yeah, we support the idea of a library," Mayor Hank Williams explained. "But the second one, for the levy, failed for lack of anybody making a motion. The thing was, we basically are encouraging our citizens to vote for the library levy that's on the ballot. The reason council did not want to support the idea, as a council, of that particular library levy was that there's no parity."
Williams said a majority of council members feel that, while all county residents would pay similar tax amounts, based on property value, the city's library was open fewer hours and received fewer budget dollars than those in Medford and Ashland.
In recent months, Williams hosted a study session to explore alternatives, including one that would find the city partnering with School District 6 to keep libraries open at a lower cost.
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Councilman Dick Halley said he was more apt to want to fund the city library as a city rather than fund a county levy.
Halley said the council should not have been asked to "take a side" regarding the coming levy.
"It was fine to ask us to say we support maintaining a library in Central Point, but the City Council does not support telling the people what to do about a levy," said the longtime council member. "That resolution, the way it was written, said we agree with the levy the way it is — but what if we don't? Jackson County is not budging on the amount they say they need and we feel like they could do it for less — but they're not willing to do that." Council member Matt Stephenson agreed.
"Obviously we support libraries. Anybody that doesn't is, well, whatever! The problem is, number one, we don't have direct control over this because it's a county problem at this point," Stephenson said.
"Number two, I'm pretty disappointed at the way they've tackled this as an all or nothing. They want things to remain status quo without trying to make any cuts." Stephenson added, "As a citizen, if they met in the middle some place I think they'd have a better chance getting the libraries back open. From a council standpoint, there's not really parity at all when you compare our library to those in Medford and Ashland I think the council was pretty unanimously on the same page about the levy being a little over the top."
Library supporter and retired Judge Ross Davis, who spoke to the council in recent weeks urging support of the upcoming levy, was disappointed Friday at a lack of support for the county levy. Davis is strongly in favor of a countywide system versus a handful of cities running libraries on their own.
"Of course they're entitled to do exactly as they see fit, and I know they gave it careful consideration, but I wish they would support the levy because it's important to our community.
"We've been hoping the elected officials in the community would sort of step up and provide some leadership on this issue. While I'm disappointed on that note, it's clear they are supporting the library so it'd be my nature to at least see that as a positive."
Williams said residents would guide the council on whether a county levy or a local operating levy, would be the best fit for the growing city.
"We like libraries. We think we need libraries. We're just not sure what the county is doing is in our best interest as Central Point residents," Williams said.
"We didn't want to feel like something was being shoved down our throats as 'If you want any library at all, this is what you've got to do!' "
Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at buffypollock@juno.com.
