GARLAND COUNTY, Ark. — The Garland County judge has denied a petition by an organized group of residents to reduce their library's funding from being placed on the November ballot.
On August 2, a petition containing 131 signatures from registered voters in Garland County was submitted to the court for review, along with additional petitions with 9 signatures on September 3.
This was followed by a public hearing on September 4 to hear from those who supported and opposed the millage decrease.
Adam Webb, executive director for the Garland County Library, said that this proposal would have created a 40% reduction in the library's operating budget.
The court stated that the original petition did not accurately state the qualifying language required by Amendment 38 that all signatures must be from taxpaying electors, rather than registered voters.
On page 4 of the petition, the printed name of the canvasser was not included, making it invalid to the court.
The judge also deemed the additional petitions from September 3 invalid since they did not include or have attached the ballot language or form required by Amendment 38.
Additionally, the court noted that the petitions lacked the required attorney's certification.
Many who attended supported keeping the library's funding as it left public comments like, "I love our library and support it." Others pointed out the library's ample resources and said they would be too valuable to lose.
"There are a lot of families that rely heavily upon this library, and we talk about broadband all the time, and we have families that don't even have a computer," a Garland County resident said.
However, petitioners have said this is a "tax issue only."