A bill in the Montana House of Representatives would allow libraries, with public approval, to form county-sized library districts, where taxes could be collected specifically for library funding.
Introduced by Rep. Shiell Anderson (R-Livingston), House Bill 152 would permit voters to initiate the districts and decide how much money each would receive, at a rate up to 20 mills. Library districts could include more than one library and more than one county. The libraries would be required to survey users to determine what services to offer.
With an estimated 50% of the state's population owning library cards, Montana's libraries would be better off financially if they stopped asking local governments for funding and went straight to voters instead, Anderson maintained in the January 16 Bozeman Daily Chronicle. The House Taxation Committee is expected to vote on the bill within a week.
Posted January 25, 1999.