The question I most frequently hear regarding Measure S, is why do we need a sales tax to support the library?  Shouldn’t the budgets of the cities and county fund the library? 

Actually, the cities do contribute about 6 percent of library revenue and the county contributes another 6 percent.  But that leaves 88 percent of the library budget funded by the dedicated 1/8 cent sales tax.  Without this sales tax funding, the cities and county would have to contribute much higher portions of their budgets to maintain current library services. 

City budgets are heavily skewed toward funding public safety.  In addition to extensive public safety funding, the county budget has large expenditures for education and more moderate expenditures for public health and social services. These entities could not divert significant funding to the library without negatively impacting these other services. 

In my opinion, it is not in the best interests of the community to reduce police and fire services, nor educational services.  Measure S is endorsed by the Modesto Fire Fighters Association, Stanislaus County Deputy Probation Officers Association, Modesto City Schools, Ceres Unified School District, Modesto Chamber of Commerce, and the Cities of Ceres, Hughson, Newman, Riverbank, Turlock and Waterford, as well as numerous current and former public officials.  They know passage of Measure S is the best way to ensure the future of our library system.

— Mary Giventer, President, League of Women Voters Stanislaus County