Contract payments are based on the city's assessed property value and likely would continue to increase annually. The contract expires at the end of 2000 and has an automatic four-year extension. Terminating the contract requires prior notice of one year. Should the council choose to terminate the contract, the library would continue to operate until the end of next year. After that, city residents would have to drive to Kennewick for free library services or pay an annual fee to borrow materials from the Richland Library.
Students can check out materials for free.
Other alternatives that would keep the library open include a new contract that would provide less service or contracting with another library district for services. Annexing into the Mid-Columbia Library District also is an option, but one Mayor Jerry Peltier opposes because it would take property tax dollars away from the city. He said he's disappointed voters didn't understand the potential effects on small towns. Phelps Shepard, library district director, said the district is sympathetic. We just hope that over the year we can find some way around that, because neither the city nor the library district wishes to see the library close.