New library not needed here

        The headline story in the March 20 Bonners Ferry Herald was regarding a library bond that will be on our May election ballot. I urge you to vote against this bond.

Libraries are great institutions and I am glad we have one in Boundary county. However, the question of this bond is not one of the worth of the library – it’s a question about the role of government. Should our county government tax us for non-essential functions or should those functions be self-supporting?

No matter what is said about the value to the community, promoting the growth of an adequately-skilled workforce, or building a strong local economy, the reality is that none of these promises are the requisite jobs of our government. I’d like to see us maintain a great library in Bonners Ferry, but we should move towards voluntary private funding as a means of support.

The proposal is to fund the library construction with a general obligation bond; $8 million divided by the population of Boundary County is about $750 per resident … plus interest at 4.374 percent for the next 30 years. (Do the math … $8 million at 4.374 percent means we have a $14 million library.) On top of that, we are asked to approve maintenance on the larger facility at 25 percent above current costs. This is unacceptable.

So let me propose some alternatives.     

Read the complete letter by going to the Herald's e-edition while it is still free. Follow this link: http://www.bonnersferryherald.com/