CITY LIBRARY - WHETHER VOLUNTARY LEVY FOR SUPPORT MAY EXEMPT TOWNSHIP, "REGULARLY," DEFINITION OF. Letter, September 23, 1966, to Mr. Earl Means, Chairman, Everest Library Board, Everest, Kansas.
You may first ask whether a township may be exempted from a system if it regularly but voluntarily levies at least one-fourth mill to help support a city library. The only statute we are aware of under which the township might make such a levy is K.S.A. 12-1230. The section authorizes the township board to contract with an existing library to furnish library services to residents of the township. We do not believe such a contract for services amounts to "supporting a library" so as to entitle it to be excluded as of right under K.S.A. 1968 Supp. 75-1550.
You also ask what constitute making a levy "regularly.' The term is first used in determining whether a territory has the right to be excluded from a proposed system. It would seem that at the time the petition for the establishment of a regional system is presented a district claiming to be exempt would have to show a past history of making such a levy or, at the very least, that it has taken steps to establish a library and is committed to make such a levy in the future.
By the same token, a district which has been included and petitions to be excluded would have to make a similar showing at the time it makes such a petition. The State Library Advisory Commission, in determining whether the petitioning district "meets the requirement for making such a petition" would look at the district's history and commitments to determine whether it "regularly" makes a levy of one-fourth mill or more.
- Quoted from Kansas Public Library Laws, Attorney General’s Opinions and Rules and Regulations, State Library of Kansas, March 1979.
Labels: Everest