“Library systems have the option of passing a millage, which is add more tax,” he said. “You have the possibility of asking for up to a maximum of 3 mills — [a mill is] one-tenth of a penny — for debt service.”

Lovelady, at PCLS Director Shawn Pierce’s request, prepared an estimate of funds generated by a possible increase that he presented to the board. One mill in Pope County generates between $1,080,000 and $1.1 million annually, according to the most recent assessment data, which is what Lovelady used in his estimate.

“In our calculations — we used $1,080,000 for a 20-year bond issue if you had a interest rate of 4 percent — that $1,080,000 per year would support a bond issue of about $9 million,” he said. “If you were to go for the maximum amount for the millage available, then you could possibly get up to $24 million to $27 million construction bonds. For the purposes of this calculation, we looked at an election sometime in 2015.”

Lovelady said in order to get a proposed increase on the ballot, PCLS would need to get 100 voters to sign a petition.

“You can have a petition signed by 100 certified voters in the county and present that to the county judge, and then the next election, that issue would be put on the ballot,” he said. “If and when that happens, regardless of what the feelings of the judge and the quorum court are, the process can go the people.”

PCLS currently receives about 77 percent of its funding through a one-mill tax from the county and about 9 percent as a direct result of homestead reimbursements from the state. The remaining funding comes from revenue PCLS generates.

Lovelady told the board having four branches in the library system was a potential obstacle.

“You will have to prioritize where that money ... is going to be spent,” he said. “When you’re looking at a county issue, you’re obviously going to have to think in terms of ‘this money is going to have to be spent where it affects the largest number of voters in that county.’ If you’re just servicing a small amount of people with this vote, you’re obviously going to have a hard time getting the entire county to approve a vote.”

He suggested the board have long-term plans for its facilities and programs, and to make sure the public is aware of them.

“Your biggest charge will be to educate your populous of what the needs are,” he said.