Library Tax Lawsuits

Rowan County library officials are keeping a watchful eye on lawsuits taking place in Anderson and Montgomery counties that seek to roll-back local library taxes. 

The suits claim the library districts in both counties have violated state law over the year by increasing tax rates without voter approval.  One suit filed seeks to return Anderson County’s library tax rate to what is was in 1967, while the one filed in Montgomery would move that county’s rate back to its 1980 level.

Kay Freeland heads the Rowan County library board.  She says the legal action could put a million dollars in local tax revenue at-stake for her facility…

The Rowan library was established in 1968.  Attorneys for the Anderson and Montgomery County libraries say the library tax increases there were based on instructions from the State Department of Libraries and Archives and were given the ok by the State Attorney General.