There are two issues on the Nov. 7 special election ballot in Moniteau County, and both concern setting up a county library district.
Proposition A-1 asks, "Shall there be established a Moniteau County Library District?"
Proposition A-2 asks, "Shall there be a tax of 12 cents on each $100 assessed valuation for a county library?"
The explanation for these states, "The proposed district shall include all of Moniteau County not within an existing municipal library district."
Both propositions can be treated as one, since both must pass for the county library district to come into existence.
The matter of a new county library district is on the ballot by initiative petition. With 400 signatures needed, nearly 700 county residents signed the petitions.
The initiative petition process makes it a requirement that it be two ballot issues. This differs from the 1997 ballot issue - declared illegal by judicial decision earlier this year, since it had failed to receive a majority vote - in several ways.
One difference is the first County Library District was created by an Order of the County Commission. Also, the first county library district was based on six school districts, rather than the entire county.
Three of those districts made up the eastern subdistrict - California, High Point and Jamestown. And three made up the western subdistrict - Tipton, Clarksburg and Latham.
That means voters in the other county school districts - Cole County R-1, Cooper County R-4 and Miller County R-1 - were not eligible to vote in the election.
Another difference is, by statute, a county library must have a physical location.
The new proposed county library includes all of Moniteau County, except for the municipal area of Tipton, which has its own city library district.
The taxpayers of the first county library district paid a tax levy of 12 cents per each $100 of assessed valuation. Although the recommendation of the state library is that the county library assessment be levied at 20 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, the new district proposal would keep the levy at the same rate.
In contrast, the new Tipton municipal library tax, approved by the city's voters in August, is 24 cents per each $100 of assessed valuation.
Currently, the library at California, known as the Wood Place Library, is operating on minimal funding. With assistance from the Elia Wood Paegelow Foundation (owner of the Wood Place Library) and private donors, the library is providing books, DVDs, VHS tapes, CDs, eBooks, audiobooks and other services.
If the ballot issue passes, expanded services are planned, including public library services to High Point, Jamestown, Clarksburg and Latham.