Most California Libraries Fare Well
at Ballot Box
With the dramatic exception of the San Diego County Library's resounding sales-tax-hike defeat, libraries in California received fiscal thumbs-up statewide in local elections on March 2.
In Livermore, an overwhelming 81% of the voters approved a $150-million bond measure, $20 million of which will pay for a new 45,000-square-foot library slated to open in September 2001. The remaining funds, which will come from a $71 annual hike in property taxes per $100,000 of assessed valuation, will go for a new community center and public-school improvements.
Passage of multiyear parcel-tax measures in Ross, San Mateo County, and Santa Rosa will fund both classroom and school-library enhancements. In Fairfax and San Anselmo, voters approved Measure E, a $19.8-million bond issue that will upgrade classrooms, libraries, and computer labs in the Ross Valley School District.
The South Pasadena Public Library also won, with 87% of voters approving a six-year renewal of a parcel tax that yields $220,000 annually, which amounts to 20% of SPPL's budget.
Posted March 8, 1999.
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