A proposal that could open the door to cutting the Saline County Library’s budget by a third could be illegal, according to Adam Webb, president of the Arkansas Library Association.

The Saline County Quorum Court is scheduled to read a proposed ordinance a second and possibly a third time on May 18. If the measure is passed after those three required readings  – and from all indications it will – the justices of peace will send the issue on to voters, giving  the public a chance to reduce the library’s millage from 1.7 mills to 1.1.

But Webb, whose library association serves to promote libraries and librarians in Arkansas, said he thinks the proposal, based on the Arkansas Constitution, should have originated with an individual, not the Quorum Court.

“Amendment 38 says it has to be a citizen-led petition,” Webb said Monday. “There’s no mechanism in Arkansas code for the Quorum Court to do it. I’m fairly confident in how library funding works, having more than 20 years of experience with it, and I can’t find any justification for a quorum court to initiate the question.” 

Webb is also the executive director of the Garland County Library in Hot Springs.

Under a section of Amendment 38 titled: Raising, reducing or abolishing tax – Petition and election, the law states: 

“Whenever 100 or more taxpaying electors of any county having library tax in force shall file a petition in the County Court asking that such tax be raised, reduced or abolished, the question shall be submitted to the qualified electors at a general or special election.”

Webb said his advice to those in Saline County who want to preserve the status quo is to legally pursue the matter.

“An attorney could look at this,” he said. “My suggestion is that if the Quorum Court goes through with this, challenge it in court and, if I’m right, maybe you’ll live to fight another day.”

An attempt on Monday to reach Kolton Jones, county attorney, was not successful. 

The proposed ordinance is being sponsored by Justice of the Peace Josh Curtis, who seemed excited at the prospect that the Saline County’s Library’s funding could be dinged. “I feel like this $1.7 million in tax cuts is great,” he said during a committee debate about the measure. 

Curtis’ rationale for trying to trim the library’s budget is that the county’s population has grown rapidly since 1998, when the millage was raised from 1 mill to 1.7 mills, and the growth would now provide enough money for the library at a lower millage rate.

The JPs gave the proposed ordinance a first read on April 20, and Curtis said then that he would ask that the measure be read a second and third time at the May 18 meeting. If passed, voters would see the item on the November ballot.

The measure has its roots in a culture war county officials got into with the library in 2023 when director Patty Hector wouldn’t bend the knee about complaints about book placements in the library relating to such topics as sex education. She was eventually fired by County Judge Matt Brumley, who has expressed support for the proposed ordinance now being considered. 

“We feel confident that through collaboration with library leadership … we can maintain what people love about our library, put money back in their pockets of our tax-paying citizens and that’s a win for everyone,” he said in a prepared statement.

Hector has sued Brumley over the termination.

The Saline County Library’s director, Leigh Espey, is also supportive of the cutbacks, although her prepared remarks seem less enthusiastic about the proposal.

“As we look ahead, we understand this proposed millage change may involve a number of challenges,” she said. “This funding proposal has been carefully reviewed and analyzed, with a thoughtful plan for the future, and we are prepared to navigate those challenges while continuing to deliver the services and programs our community has come to expect.”

Webb cited a 2022 millage reduction in Craighead County-Jonesboro Public Library that was narrowly approved through a citizen-led effort.

“The bar is pretty low, with only 100 signatures on a petition needed,” Webb said, “but the man that was behind it was the one who went out and gathered the signatures.”

Webb said the loss of funding had been difficult for the Northeast Arkansas library, saying the reduction from 2 mills to 1 had cut into the library’s staff and services.

An Arkansas Times story in late 2023 said the Craighead County-Jonesboro library was soon to lose 13 employees because of the cuts. “It is horrible,” said Director Vanessa Adams. “We lost half of our budget.”

Library officials held out hope that another petition drive and vote would restore funding, but a November 2024 vote failed. 

Webb said that when a library loses funding, it can affect other libraries. 

“A number of libraries across the state are in the same e-book group – the Arkansas Digital Library Consortium,” he said. “Everybody’s content goes into a shared collection that any member at any of those libraries can access. But if a library’s budget is cut and they don’t have the money to buy books and other media, everybody else has to pick up the slack. And overall, the issue becomes the wait times. If Craighead County used to be able to buy two of something and now they can only buy one, the wait times increase.”

What could happen in Saline County, Webb said, was also tried in 2024 in Lawrence County, but voters rejected the idea, maintaining that library’s 2 mills.

“So they love their library in Lawrence County,” Webb said. “The same could happen in Saline County. I hope so.”