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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Post Falls Turns Out For New Library Voters Accept A Tax Increase For A 21,000-Square-Foot Building

Laura Shireman Staff writer

FROM FOR THE RECORD (Idaho edition, Thursday, November 6, 1997): Correction Library president: Nancy Haas is the president of the Post Falls Library Board. A story that ran in Wednesday’s paper failed to include her first name or title.

Post Falls will get its new library.

Library fans won the supermajority needed to pass the bond issue. About 75 percent of voters agreed to raise their taxes to pay for constructing a shiny new building supporters say the city desperately needs.

“I’m excited,” added Teresa Olson, a member of the library board. “I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback.”

The bond will raise $2 million for a new 21,000-square-foot building that would hold 90,000 books. Passage of the bond also means the city of Post Falls will devote $225,000 from its capital improvement fund for the project.

For homeowners whose houses are valued at $100,000, the bond will increase taxes by $21.88 per year - a price friends of the library say is well worth it.

“It’s the cost of maybe donating one book a year or the cost of going to McDonald’s for the evening,” Haas said.

Fortunately for the library, both Haas and Olson said, the community has been very supportive in the library’s efforts.

The old 4,500-square-foot library holds about 23,000 books. Librarians had been turning down book donations because of a lack of space.

“Our building is bowing under the use,” said library director Joe Reiss in an interview in October.

“We need this pretty bad,” Olson said.

Haas pointed out that the current building was not even built for handicapped access.

“It hasn’t changed since we first built it. It’s just really crowded,” she said.

For example, the building was so crowded that when 200 kids showed up for the summer reading program, they couldn’t all meet inside.

The new building will be built on the site of the old one and about an acre of adjacent land donated to the library by the Post Falls School District.

The total land the new library will have is about 1.3 acres.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo