Jackson County, Oregon rejects tax to reopen libraries

May 16, 2007 Jackson County, Oregon in the United States voted to reject measure 15-75, which would have provided funding to reopen county libraries, closed since April 6. The new levy, at US$0.66 per US$1000 of assessed property value, would have provided funding to open the 15 libraries left unfunded after the U.S. Congress did not renew the Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Act. A similar levy was defeated in November, 2006.

County Commissioners Jack Walker and Dave Gilmour blamed the defeat not on a lack of support for libraries, but a reticence to pay additional taxes. Gilmour noted an oncoming recession and called libraries "just one more casualty of the Iraq War," while Walker said voters reacted against tax-and-spend measures.