SIKESTON LIBRARY FUNDING DISCUSSED

SIKESTON -- Residents in areas annexed by Sikeston since 1965 are using the Sikeston Public Library without paying the library tax.

Instead, they are paying a tax to Riverside Regional Library, which serves Scott and other counties.

A Missouri law states that property annexed into a city after 1965 shall not be included in the city's existing municipal library district.

Sikeston charges a library tax, which funds about 10 percent of the library's budget, but areas annexed into the city after 1965 are not included in the municipal library district. Residents of the library district pay the Sikeston library tax, but about one-fifth of library patrons are not residents of the library district.

David Strom of the Sikeston library brought the matter to the attention of the Scott County Commission Tuesday morning.

Strom said no one is refused a library card. Under the law, however, use of the library by those who do not pay for its services is illegal, he said.

"The district doesn't grow with the city," Strom said, adding that no one realized the discrepancy until now.

The Cape Girardeau Public Library experienced the same problems with the 1965 law. In 1991, library officials petitioned the Missouri General Assembly to repeal the law but failed.

Beginning in October 1993, Cape Girardeau residents who live outside the municipal district were charged $24 to use the library. The fee was set in 1986.

Sikeston's library doesn't charge user fees but may have to consider it.

The differences in tax revenue costs the Sikeston library about $15,000 while the Riverside Regional board gains about $10,000, said Strom.

One option for the Sikeston and Riverside libraries is to agree on a single service in the region; otherwise, residents will be forced to use regional libraries.

The closest Riverside libraries are in Benton and Oran.