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If voters fail to renew the library’s second millage, two or more libraries could be forced to close. The politics around this vote are more fraught than normal.
Three Parish Council members illegally arranged votes outside of public view to make a controversial library appointment, Lafayette library advocates allege in a suit filed last week in district court.
The library system’s board of control, stocked now with ideological conservatives appointed in the wake of a string of controversies, will support an upcoming renewal. Just three years ago, the Lafayette Parish Library system was flush, sitting on $26 million in reserves and working with three property taxes. That hefty balance became a target for conservative activists, and a political campaign to defeat one tax renewal succeeded. Now, the system is operating at a deficit and with a much smaller reserve.
Via The Advocate
A strong library system is essential to the growth of Lafayette. So rather than shrink library services, the city-parish government and the library board need to sit down with industry, education, tourism, the arts, and law enforcement, and explain what the library does for each of them.
At a time when Lafayette needs to be rallying together to support our libraries, the library board’s attempt to be apolitical has created a political nightmare.
The gist: Two library expansions and a new Northside branch may be reconsidered if the library’s property tax is not increased to offset revenue lost from declining commercial property values in the parish. The Lafayette Parish Library System stands to lose almost $750,000 in annual revenue if the Parish Council approves of Mayor-President Josh Guillory’s […]
Property tax rates for the airport commission and the library system would be increased to voter-approved ceilings if the council passes a pair of ordinances introduced this week.
The gist: After a year of rancorous debate, the final fate of the library’s fund balance ended with nary a word spoken for or against it. No council discussion. No public comment. Just a silent 7-1 vote in favor of building a new northside library and expanding the North Regional Library in Carencro.
The gist: The mayor-president could not flip the votes needed to put an $18 million library fund balance transfer before voters this fall. Meanwhile, a northside library took another step toward becoming a reality.
The gist: On Tuesday, the council will take up the mayor-president’s renewed push to move $18 million out of the library’s fund balance to infrastructure needs. A transfer that large would likely prevent the addition of a new library east of the Evangeline Thruway.
The gist: In an email to council members last week, Mayor-President Joel Robideaux accused the library of overspending to furnish its new branch in Scott. He cited the expenditures in asking the council to consider increasing a $10 million fund transfer already set to appear on the ballot this fall.
The gist: The City-Parish Council voted Tuesday night to call an election this fall to redirect $10 million of the library’s $26 million fund balance to unidentified infrastructure and parks and rec projects.
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