Columbia County OKs budget. (Portage Daily Register, 11/15/2011)
Excerpt: Supervisor Barry Pufahl of Pardeeville proposed to amend the budget to boost expenditures for another service: libraries.
Pufahl's proposal called for adding $28,500 to the $527,490 that had been proposed for county library support. Because the state does not restrict the amount of property tax money counties can collect for libraries, he proposed increasing taxes to reflect that increase.
To the people of the county, Pufahl said, money spent on libraries is money well spent, particularly in these challenging economic times.
"To me," he said, "education is the foundation of learning, and libraries play an important role in the education of our citizens."
Supervisor Susan Martin of the town of Pacific agreed, saying that many of her constituents see libraries as one of the county's vital services.
"Libraries serve all of the public, from womb to tomb," she said.
But Supervisor Debra Wopat of the town of Wyocena said the county already funds libraries at a higher level than is required by state law.
"I know it's important," she said, "but so are other functions of other departments."
Supervisor John Tramburg of Fall River, chairman of the finance committee, said, "Taxes are high enough when you figure in schools, state, federal, cities and counties."
Supervisors rejected the amendment to boost library funding, by a 22-8 vote.
No comments:
Post a Comment