Henderson libraries push for tax increase

Jeffrey Libby

Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

Henderson, a city lauded nationally for its parks, fares poorly when it comes to its libraries -- worst in the state for books per person and about one-fourth the national average at one book per person.

A proposed 4-cent tax increase on the Nov. 5 ballot would go a long way toward improving the services and number of facilities within the Henderson District Public Library, said library director Joan Kerschner.

"We have the lowest level of books per capita in the state, lowest pretty much in the country, and with the growing population, it's only going to get worse," Kerschner said.

"The tax increase would serve all kinds of community needs across the board for less than the cost of a month of Internet access."

Today, the 5-cent library district tax assesses an owner of a $100,000 home about $18 each year, one of the lowest library tax rates in Southern Nevada. With the increase, the annual library tax would rise by $14 to $32, roughly the same rate homeowners pay in Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County. The Henderson library district is funded independently of the city of Henderson.

The tax would bring in about $2.5 million annually for 30 years.

Without the added revenue, which Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson called "a modest" proposal, the library district will not be able to fund even a fraction of the six libraries the district hopes to build and operate with the requested tax.

"In a maturing community like ours, we can't be everything we need to be without an adequate library system," Gibson said.

The independent library district can't compete with the city parks and recreation department, which won a national award in 1999. Voters approved a $56 million bond for parks in 1997.

But voters haven't supported libraries. In June 2001, they voted down the same library tax proposed on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Resident Mike Sager, a retired Nevada Test Site administrator and regular at the Rainbow Casino in the old downtown, said he will vote against the tax again because libraries will soon be replaced by Internet services.

"All libraries are troglodytes. They're ancient and they've outlived their usefulness," Sager said. "In a few more years you'll be able to just plug in your computer and punch out all the information libraries have."

Kerschner said if anything the Internet has increased demand at libraries. Between 1990 and 2000, circulation of library materials increased from 146,000 to 452,300, an increase of 210 percent outpacing gains in population.

The library district needed six years to save enough for the $6.6 million Paseo Verde Library, which opened in August with two-thirds of its shelves empty, she said.