I would like to encourage the voters in South Routt to vote yes on ballot issue 6A this November. Voting yes will remove the revenue cap restrictions for the libraries in Oak Creek and Yampa, which will allow them to remain open, vital hubs of their communities.

Currently, both of those libraries operate on a combined budget of $100,000 a year. For comparison, Hayden’s one library operates on a budget of over $220,000 because that community voted to remove its revenue cap restrictions 20 years ago. 

Ballot issue 6A, if passed, will cost the average South Routt homeowner about $11 per year, which would provide our libraries with $68,000 more next year and potentially more in the future. If not passed, it could cost the town of Yampa its library. The South Routt Library District has struggled to cover the costs of paying library staff in both libraries for a few years and without passing 6A, they are without the necessary revenue to keep both branches open. 

Ballot issue 6A is not a partisan issue. It’s a question of whether or not you think libraries are important. Based on the hundreds of patrons who check out books every year, the large number of kids who participate in the summer reading programs, the families who enjoy toddler story times, the many people who use library computers, the readers who enjoy the book clubs, and all of the community members who regularly attend the monthly Speaker Series, it would seem South Routt loves its libraries. Voting yes on ballot issue 6A is how you can show your libraries that love.

South Routt Library Friends — Mandy Maass, Oak Creek; Susan Albers, Stagecoach; Cho Tin Tun, Yampa, Phippsburg and Toponas; Dana Fujita, Oak Creek; Lindsay Rocks, Oak Creek