Fulton County library bond: Vote no

Could Fulton County have chosen a worse time to propose $275 million in new spending?

On the plus side, it’s for a worthy cause: the $275 million, in the form of bonds, would pay for eight new library branches, expand two existing branches and spruce up 24 others. As for minuses, there’s the lousy economy that’s already put the squeeze on local homeowners and the fact that at least $85 million of the bond money would go toward replacing the Central Library.

The Central Library part of the plan was a last-minute add-on and is accordingly half-baked, calling vaguely for the library system to find a new downtown site, sell the old building and build a spectacular new edifice. Bond funds would cover only half the estimated cost of the new facility; the difference would somehow be made up with private donations, according to County Commissioner Robb Pitts, the idea’s main proponent. Given the current state of the economy and the large number of competing civic projects — civil rights museum, symphony hall, Beltline, etc. — tapping into huge amounts of private money seems a pipe dream.

Atlanta taxpayers should also be aware that six of the proposed new branches would be located in the far north and south ends of the county. Fulton hasn’t had a library bond for more than 20 years, so it’s especially regrettable that mission creep was allowed to bloat this referendum to more than a quarter of a billion dollars. If the referendum ‘s rejected, perhaps next time, the county will come back with a more reasonable proposal.

Check out CL’s 2008 Voter’s Guide and add your comments to races you care about. It continues to be updated. On Oct. 21, come back to find a handy cheat-sheet to your voting both.