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Show No simple choice ahead .for librairy ' At first glance, it seems that next week's hearing on county funding for the Park City Library is offering only two choices to citizens. The Park City Library Board says it needs county support sup-port to operate the library, in light of the fact that non-city non-city residents make up 10 percent of the library's usage in recent years. Next week's hearing at Parley's Park Elementary School proposes a library service district to include all of the Park City School District except for Park City itself. The two apparent choices being offered by the Summit County Commission are these: Should county residents ask for a new taxing district to fund the library? Or should nothing at all be done by the county? Actually, you have more choices than that. County officials of-ficials have said their reasons for proposing the district were legal technicalities as much as anything else. The district must be formally proposed by a certain date if it can be formed at all in 1985. Next week's hearing should be a forum to discuss all the possibilities not just a Yes or No vote on the district. There are a number of possibilities that haven't been examined fully by the citizenry. Among them : The library could be financed by general funds from the county. The county commission is cool to this idea, on the grounds that it is unfair to finance Park City-area service at the expense of other areas of the county. But it isn't a question of whether Park City's library should get the county's favors. The question is whether county library service as a whole shouldn't be beefed up. According to members of the Park City Library Board, Summit County's library funding per capita is the lowest, or nearly the lowest, in the state. It is difficult to understand how poorer counties with higher tax levies can afford to finance libraries as a routine service, while Editorial Summit County looks upon it as a frill. The Park City Library, far from asking the county for a free ride, has made a strong commitment to its community. com-munity. Its activities can serve as a model for improved service across the county. Summit County is now mulling the idea of revenue sharing with cities within its area. If the county agrees to this idea, the library is one department that could benefit by it. Many of the county residents in the proposed Park City Library taxing district are schoolchildren who use the facility for papers and research projects. The library need here is an educational need, so shouldn't the services ser-vices of school libraries be beefed up? True, the Park City Library has the centralized location loca-tion and is open more than the school libraries. But shouldn't the school district examine its budget at the first opportunity for better library service? After all as we are pointing out this week in Cincinnatithe Cincin-natithe Park City School District does the very best it can for its taxpayers and students. Finally, perhaps the library should cut back its budget until the public sentiment appears in the county, a few years hence, for improved library service. With lower operating expenses, it might be more bearable for taxpayers, whether they be city residents, members of a special service district or county citizens paying for a usage fee. Whatever your thoughts, it is important that you appear ap-pear Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Parley's Park Elementary. Otherwise the outcome will be easy to predict. Without your opinions, the most logical decision of the ccr.rty commission is to do nothing. |