As I’ve previously written, the Keller city council has decided to go forward with a plan to issue $8.8 million in bonds to fund a new library.  The latest issue of The Keller Citizen had some interesting quotes from various council members with regards to the reasoning behind their decision to not allow a vote on the issue.  Of all the reasons, though, the following one struck me as the most arrogant.

Councilman Russell Lake said the council has so much information on the library that it would be hard to convey it accurately to the citizens to prepare them to vote.  Also, he said council members work hard to spend city money wisely and keep the tax rate low.

I interpret that as a round-about way of saying that we voters are too stupid to understand the reasons and that we can’t be trusted to be properly “prepare[d]” to give them the desired outcome.

Interestingly, from the ways that bonds are differentiated, it appears that the city council has the authority to issue these without voter approval.  Which seems to me to be a root issue that needs to be addressed.  I don’t think any city should be able to create any significant amount of new debt without voter approval.  Further, there needs to be some level of accountability with regards to the long-term liabilities for operations that will be incurred.  Until I hear definitively that the city can fund staffing and operations for the new fire station, I will remain implacably opposed to a new library.  Books are nice, but they’re not much fun if you’re reading them by [house]firelight…