The Craighead/Jonesboro Public Library will have its budget sliced in half following the results of the Nov. 8 election. The measure to cut the library’s funding from two mills down to one passed at the county level by a margin of 59.8% and by 48.8% on the city level.

“We think it’s a vindication of the democratic process,” said Iris Stevens, coordinator of Citizens Taxed Enough. “We got out our information and tried to explain to people what the issue was and how it was going to work out for the library. We relied on them to make that decision and they did.”

The budget will be reduced by $2 million and will go into effect next year. 

“For the 2022 fiscal year, they’re going to receive about $4.4 million to $4.5 million from the city and county tax revenue,” said Robin Martin, treasurer of Citizens Taxed Enough. “With the millage cut, they’ll receive half of that, so that would be $2.2 million to $2.5 million.”

Vanessa Adams, director of the Craighead/Jonesboro Public Library, said the library is starting to look at how to respond to this new budget.

“All we have done so far is look at numbers, see about practical ways we could cut without having to shut down any branches,” Adams said. “We’re going to do our best to not eliminate branches or staff.”

Gabriela Alonso, a first-year world languages and cultures major from Los Angeles who works at the library, said she was worried for her fellow employees.

“I fear since I am part-time I will be (laid off), but my fear is greater for the staff that are full time and have been working at the library for years. If I do get laid off, then I’ll continue to be positive and thank the library for being such an amazing first job for me,” Alonso said.

Since the announcement of the results, the Save Our Libraries campaign began discussing calling for a special election in 2023 to raise the millage. 

“They have tossed around that idea, but it is not anything definite,” Adams said. 

Stevens said the campaign should hold off on calling for a special election.

“It’s absurd to do something at this point until you see how this functions,” Stevens said. “We proved through the numbers that this is not going to hurt this library.”

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