To the editor:

Responding to Tom Cooper’s Oct. 4 letter in the Call, I would like to point out two facts.

First, books, DVDs, story hours and “much, much more” are not free.

Somebody has to pay for them. And that somebody is the taxpayer.

“Jobless folks” may get those items for free, but this is due to a form of income redistribution from those who have jobs.

And second, the St. Louis County Library’s current request for a tax-rate in-crease is in response to the decreased valuation of county homes, which produces less tax revenue for the library.

The taxpayers are not responsible for this decrease in revenue.

Yet, if the library’s request for a 6-cent tax-rate increase is approved, the taxpayers are stuck with it even when property values increase.

I would vote for the proposal if there was a sunset provision that would remove the increase when times get better.

However, a permanent increase should be voted down in these hard economic times.