Help keep the doors open at the Homer Public Library!

• The Friends of the Homer Library is encouraging supporters and users of the library alike to write to the local papers expressing your feelings about the potential budget cuts to the library. Your voice is needed to keep the doors open at the Homer Public Library. Below is some information about the impacts such cuts could have on our library, followed by a point of view piece by Marylou Burton.

Note: Papers often impose a 2-week black-out on election-issue letters, therefor sooner is better than later for submitting opinion pieces.

To write a letter to the Homer News, send your thoughts to letters@homernews.com.

To write a letter to the Homer Tribune, email letters@homertribune.com

On Oct. 6, city of Homer voters will have a chance to reinstate a 3 percent sales tax on non-prepared food (groceries). The average grocery bill for a family of four in Homer is $170 per week. The 3 percent sales tax, if approved, adds just $5 to that bill, but cumulatively, that $5 amounts to  $800,000 to support City services and programs.  Loss of that money will mean that city services will be cut.

1. Library likely to close on Mondays without tax revenue
If the grocery tax fails, a citywide $1 million shortfall will likely force the Homer Public Library to shut down on Mondays (the library’s busiest day). One to two positions could be cut or staff could be forced to take unpaid furloughs. In addition, other services, such as interlibrary loans, access to the collection, and general public assistance by library staff, will likely be reduced.

2. Closure would impact hundreds of people
On average, the Homer Public Library serves 441 people on Mondays, including a large number of after-school students who study and do homework in the library after school. Because of state statutes that require libraries be open some weekend and evening hours, Monday is the only feasible day to close.

3. Sales tax shares the cost of city services
The grocery tax allows the 5,000-plus community residents outside the city limits to help support the city services they use – like the library. Without it, city residents are footing more of the bill.

4. It’s money well spent
Money spent supporting libraries has been proven to have an exponentially positive effect on the area’s economy by aiding in job searches, furthering education and supporting literacy. An Anchorage study estimated a 2-to-1 return for every dollar spent on library services.

5. Libraries are a great value
Cutting funding to the Homer Public Library is shortsighted – the library provides great value to the community and the cost per taxpayer is equivalent to just three hard-back books per year.

6. Libraries improve lives
Library services go far beyond the books on the shelves. Library programs educate and enrich the community on everything from literature to essential technology. Computers are offered to those without access to those resources and are used by an average 988 patrons each week.

7. Libraries create informed voters
Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin created libraries in part to promote literacy and create an informed electorate. Libraries are an unbiased source of information about government policy, and are the cornerstone of democracy.

8. Libraries support the economy
The library supports many areas of the economy with its resources. Hundreds of tourists, for example, use the Homer Public Library each summer, enhancing their visitor experience. The library is also seen as a positive feature for those contemplating a move to Homer, including business owners and retirees. In general, a good library, much like a good school, attracts people to an area.

9. Other cities have chosen to tax groceries
Homer is the only incorporated city on the Kenai Peninsula that has not already reinstated the grocery sales tax.

10. Our library is a community achievement
The Homer Public Library, built in 2006, is source of community pride and a testament to our community’s values and priorities. Visitors to the area are often in awe of the facility, and other communities have followed Homer’s example when launching their own library capital campaigns. In general, a good library, much like a good school, attracts people to an area.

Library faces budget crunch, likely to close on Mondays

By Marylou Burton

On Oct. 6th, voters in the City of Homer will be asked if the city should extend the 3 percent grocery sales tax that is currently charged during the summer tourist season (June 1 – August 31) to the other nine months of the year.

On the surface, this seems like a no-brainer. “Tax” or “no tax”, money in my pocket or money in the city coffers – how hard is that?

Well, here’s the flip side. Currently, the 5,000 or so people (including me) who live outside the city/borough property line do not pay city property taxes and will not be voting on this measure, but they DO benefit from many city services. Imposing a grocery sales tax is one way to spread the pain, as it were.

But that aside – the city estimates that extending the sales tax will generate approximately $800,000 a year. This isn’t NEW money, mind you, but tax revenue that until this year has been a critical component of the city’s budget. So if the tax fails, what we’re talking about isn’t an unrealized gain, but a substantial loss. A loss that will inevitably and necessarily lead to cuts in city services and support to non-profits.

Consider the library, for instance. The Homer Public Library, built in 2006, is a source of community pride and a testament to our community’s values and priorities. It is extensively used by city and out-lying residents, as well as summer visitors. Literally hundreds of people come each day to check out books, use the computers, utilize the study and conference rooms, attend presentations, participate in programs, and generally just hang out.

BUT – if the grocery tax fails, the resulting shortfall will likely force the Homer Public Library to reduce staff and actually lock the doors during a week day. Because of a state statute that requires libraries to be open some weekend and evening hours, that day is likely to be Monday. On average, the library serves 441 people on Mondays, including a large number of students who study and do homework in the library after school. Closure will not just be an inconvenience, but a ridiculous waste of a fantastic facility.

And it won’t just be the library that suffers. Police, fire, port and harbors, street cleaning and maintenance – all of these services are likely to be reduced. Don’t kid yourselves. You just can’t take this big a chunk out of the budget and continue business as usual.

Look, folks, I know that times are tight. But the collective pain we will all feel if the city has to eat a million dollar deficit is going to hurt a lot worse than the individual pain we feel when we pony up an extra three or four bucks each week at the grocery story.

Please! – vote YES on Oct. 6th to extend the grocery sales tax. Share your city tax burden with non-residents like me!

Marylou Burton serves on the Friends of the Homer Library board, an independent, non-profit organization that promotes and supports programs at the Homer Public Library.