Voters told Mid-Continent to build new libraries. Now trustees might break that trust

Breaking promises to voters is seldom a good idea.

But that looks like what will happen if the Mid-Continent Public Library’s board of trustees delays accepting a time-limited $6.5 million price tag on a proposed new library in Independence.

Six years ago, voters in three Kansas City-area counties overwhelmingly approved an 8-cent levy increase to enhance library services, which included a promise to build six new libraries. To date, all but two of those new buildings have been built. But a vote by eight of the 12 trustees in September to reduce the library system’s revenue by millions has put the new facilities promised for east Independence and Riverside at risk of not being built — despite promises to voters.

Some trustees told The Star’s editorial board they are worried that board members who supported cutting the library budget will now claim it can no longer afford to build new libraries, or will say they are not needed.

“East Independence and Riverside are in jeopardy,” trustee Joycelyn Tucker Burgo told us.

Let’s be clear: Such an about-face would defy the will of voters who believed its promise of new facilities if they approved a levy increase. “What the board decides is important, because it will be a statement on how this board feels about preserving and strengthening public libraries,” said Brent Schondelmeyer, a Jackson County trustee who chairs the board’s building committee.

A deadline is looming over this question about whether the board will fulfill its promise of new libraries to voters. The guaranteed maximum price set for the Independence library expires on Dec. 17. After that the price escalates. Independence officials — rightfully concerned the library could back away from the project — have lobbied for the board to approve the current price tag at its Dec. 13 meeting.

In a letter to library officials, Independence Mayor Rory R. Rowland said his city has seen big population growth, particularly where the new library is proposed.

For thousands of residents who do not have access to broadband internet or computers, “the library is a lifeline to educational attainment, career advancement, and other critical needs,” the mayor said. Mid-Continent trustees should consider this “vulnerable population,” and follow through with its promise of a new east Independence library, Rowland said.

The three-county Mid-Continent library system, once considered one of the most efficiently run in the nation, has been engulfed in controversy in the last few years since a conservative-led board began challenging age-appropriate books and programs about LGBTQ and Black people, and demanding their removal from shelves.

The board refused to recognize results of a report it commissioned showing the need for diversity training. In September, trustees cut the system’s tax levy by 2 cents, costing the library about $4.3 million in revenue in the current fiscal year. The measure would only save taxpayers on average $5 per year per property owner.

Gordon Cook, who leads the board’s finance committee, argued that Mid-Continent has plenty of money, but that it isn’t managed well because needs are mixed in with wants.

Mid-Continent Public Library trustees, who are appointed by the commissioners in Jackson, Clay and Platte counties, may need reminding that they represent all the diverse communities the library system serves. If voters say they are willing to pay to have nicer building facilities and expanded services, then trustees should be figuring out the best way to satisfy voters’ requests, and not ignore them.