Residents of some rural areas around Nelson have rejected contributing to library service through their taxes. But rural Salmo Valley residents have no objections to expanding the size of their library catchment area.
Area E had a total of 717 responses from people who opposed providing tax dollars toward the Nelson library, of which 567 were verified, well above the 10 per cent threshold required to scuttle the idea.
“The idea with this bylaw was to establish a financial aid fund for helping the Nelson Public Library,” says Dan Elliott, RDCK communications officer. “Residents of the area are required to pay a subscription fee to use the library.”
The fees are $90 for a family or $45 for an individual.
The bylaw would have resulted in an annual payment of about $39 per year for the average property to the library service.
“I guess people don’t want to pay an extra tax, but this is not a tax, it is a payment directly to the library. It doesn’t go to RDCK.”
However, in Area G, no one signed their name against adding 145 properties to the Salmo Valley Library’s service area.
Results of both counterpetition processes will be brought to RDCK directors on Sept. 22.