Marie Bairey: We wanted an excellent library, and tiny sales tax made it possible

Almost 25 years ago, the Stanislaus County Library faced a fiscal crisis as cities and the county reduced their contributions to the library system. At that time, the League of Women Voters studied options for maintaining a viable county library system. The recommendations were to:

1) Develop a dedicated source of funding that can only be used for the library.

2) Keep library services free and accessible to all Stanislaus County residents.

3) Maintain a library system of excellence.

Thanks to community support for the 1/8th-cent sales tax dedicated to fund our libraries, and its subsequent renewals, the goals have been realized. The League endorsed the dedicated sales tax then and supports Measure S today. As a dedicated tax, the library tax must be renewed periodically and requires a two-thirds YES vote for approval. Measure S on the November ballot asks Stanislaus County voters to again renew the tax that contributes 90 percent of the funding for our county’s libraries.

Say YES to S in November.

This story was originally published October 13, 2017 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Marie Bairey: We wanted an excellent library, and tiny sales tax made it possible."