Ky. County Voters Opt for Tax Money Over Library

Carter County, a farming community where half the working-age people are either functionally illiterate or have minimal reading skills, is likely to remain one of the few places in the nation without a public library.

After heated debate in this county of 25,000 residents, magistrates this month unanimously rejected a proposal to build the county’s first library with a 6-cent property tax increase. Its cost would have averaged $30 annually per resident.

“It was pretty unbelievable,” said Mindy Woods, a mother of two who collected 2,200 signatures supporting the measure. “Their attitude was, ‘We’ve made up our minds. Don’t confuse us with the facts.’ ”

County Magistrate Carlos Wells said county residents pay plenty of taxes already, and they’ve done as well educationally without a library as neighboring counties have done with one.

Roy Seagraves, who dropped out of school in eighth grade and pulls down $800 a week working in a factory that makes plastic bumper guards for cars, admitted he doesn’t read much and says the Bible, a set of encyclopedias and a few magazines he keeps around the house are all he really needs now that his three children are grown.

Seagraves, 50, said he and his wife, Helen, have survived just fine in this eastern Kentucky county without a library, and they don’t see a need to spend tax dollars to build one now.

“Us rural people out here would benefit very little from it,” he said, adding that he pays plenty of taxes already.

Wells, a farmer and self-employed construction worker, said 51% of Carter County residents older than 25 have high school diplomas.

That’s better than the statewide average of about 33%, but Kentucky ranks last in the nation of people over 25 who have graduated from high school, according to Janet Hoover, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Workforce Development Cabinet, a state agency that provides training and job leads for unemployed workers.

Nationwide, about 75% of adults older than 25 have high school diplomas, she said.

As many as 44% of Kentucky residents have modest, minimal or no functional literacy skills, according to a 1997 survey by the University of Kentucky and the state work force agency.

Still, Wells defended the magistrates’ action.

“I’m not anti-libraries,” he said. “After several weeks of study, I didn’t find facts that we needed a public library.”

According to Mary Jo Lynch, director of research at the American Library Assn., only 3% of communities are without library services.

This tidy community of well-kept homes and manicured lawns 100 miles east of Lexington doesn’t look like a place with obvious educational deficiencies.

Grayson, the county seat with a population of 3,500, is home to Kentucky Christian College, which trains ministers, missionaries and teachers. All the public schools have been rebuilt or renovated in recent years at taxpayer expense.

“It’s hard to sell people a product that they haven’t already been using,” said Judith Burdine, president of the state library association.

Bewildered by the opposition, library supporters are considering filing suit in an effort to reverse the vote.

State law allows residents to sue to appeal decisions made by county magistrates on tax issues.

The Rev. Roy Seagraves--no relation to the man who opposed the tax--called library opponents ignorant.

The nondenominational minister said most residents would have paid less for the tax than they do for a carton of cigarettes or one fill-up at the gas station.

Judith Gibbons, director of field services for the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, also was disappointed.

Besides raising reading levels of adults, Gibbons said, libraries have a dramatic effect on early childhood education and help attract industries.

In Carter County, unemployment is nearly 10%, more than twice the national average, and elections are won and lost on promises of bringing in jobs. The largest private employer is a ham packing plant with 300 workers.