LIBRARY BOUNDARIES SPARK TALKS

To Ken Frayser, the only relevance his address should have on his use of the Cape Girardeau Public Library is that he actually lives in the city limits.

But he can't use that library -- at least not without forking over a $24 user fee, a yearly charge that his neighbors on nearby Sherwood Drive do not have to pay.

"I think it's pretty ridiculous, sitting in Cape Girardeau, paying city taxes and not being able to use the city library," Frayser said. "I guess we're supposed to use the Jackson library."

His is a frustration often voiced to library workers by many Cape Girardeau residents living in relatively new parts of town who have to pay a user fee at their local library or drive to Jackson to use the Riverside Regional Library.

That frustration is what prompted a meeting last week by the directors of the Cape Girardeau and Jackson public libraries and Riverside Regional Library, as well as board members from each group and other state library officials.

"We wanted to address what we could do about these concerns and what was feasible for all three library districts," said Betty Martin, director of the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

The crux of the issue is a state law that froze all Missouri's municipal library boundaries in 1965. County libraries were set in place for those who lived outside city limits.

Those wishing to use city libraries who lived outside the city limits could do so only if they paid a user fee. The same was true in reverse: If someone living within city limits wanted to use a regional library, a user fee was charged.

Afterward, municipal limits grew, but the library boundaries legally could not, causing city residents to have to pay user fees for municipal libraries or go to regional libraries which were often farther away.

Fee structure

People who live inside the 1965 Cape Girardeau boundaries pay 17 cents per $100 assessed valuation. A portion of that money goes to fund the Cape Girardeau Public Library. Those who live outside the boundaries pay only 8 cents per $100 home valuation, and that money goes to the Riverside Regional Library.

"The people complaining about having to pay the $24 user fees are often paying a good deal less in property taxes," Martin said.

In Jackson, residents pay 13 cents per $100 assessed valuation if they live in the pre-1965 boundaries and 8 cents if they live outside those limits. The Jackson city library and Riverside Regional are mere blocks apart.

Some of the options discussed at the meeting were setting up a contractual reciprocal program, which would require that tabs be kept on those library users from outside the library's district and a fee being charged for each item checked out.

For example, such a program in St. Charles between the city and the county charges 25 cents for each item checked out. That would mean Cape Girardeau Public Library could issue library cards to every citizen in the city and then charge Riverside Regional Library for items checked out by those outside the 1965 city limits and vice versa.

The libraries would bill each other for usage from outside their boundaries.

Martin said that would be an option that would work well for Cape Girardeau citizens and the city's library but might hurt the other two libraries financially.

"A reciprocal agreement is doable and feasible," Martin said. "It would be nice for us to do that, but poor little Jackson Public could never do it, and it would also hurt Riverside."

Potential downside

Both of those directors agreed.

"A reciprocal contract like this would actually have a negative effect on the services we provide," said Nancy Howland, director of Riverside Regional Library. "If this came about, Riverside would be taking part of their money and giving it to Cape Girardeau Public, which decreases the services we could provide to the people who pay their money to us."

Jackson Public Library director Sally Pierce said such a reciprocal agreement "just wouldn't do it."

"We're the smallest of the three," she said. "We extend good service, we just couldn't pay the fees."

All three directors say an educational campaign is a good first start.

"That's one thing that we all want to do," Howland said. "Let them know what a real value their $24 user fee is. Let the public know where their library tax money is going. That would stem some of the complaints. When you buy a house, a real estate person will tell you what school district, what water district, what fire district, but no one ever mentions what library district you moved in."

Martin said reciprocal agreements might be something to look at the future.

"These people are so mad sometimes, they don't want to hear an explanation," she said. "An educational campaign is a good first step, but some sort of reciprocal agreement could be looked at if that doesn't work."