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Let’s TRIM the library

1 min read

To the editor:

Having just received my TRIM notice with the proposed breakdown of this year’s property tax, I was curious to learn just what our new library was costing me. Given such loud accusations of huge numbers being spent and misspent I figured on finding a very troubling number.

What I did was calculate what I would pay the County, assuming “we” did away with the Beach Library taxation district and paid the Lee County Library Fund instead. The tax would indeed go down. To calculate how much in easy math, one would double the amount your bill shows for the SWF-WATER MGMT – EVERGLADES CONST. This will equal the dollar difference between the County and Beach Library taxes. The actual tax rate is .13 less for the county and the SWF-WATER rate is .062 — close enough to double.

In my case, if the whole new library was turned over to the county, my tax bill would drop by about $3. All this acrimony for $3 a year.

I’ll take, keep and support our library for all that and more. Could these misguided and ill-informed protectors of our tax dollars please get library cards and relax?

Russell Carter

Fort Myers Beach