The works of many authors can be found at the Safford City Graham County Library and, at least for the time being, anyone may borrow any number of books, CDs or other material free of charge.

After discussing the situation for more than 35 minutes during its Monday meeting, the Safford City Council voted 5-2 to rescind a resolution to charge nonresidents of the city a $50 annual fee per person for a library card with a cap of a $165 annual fee for a family of four or more. Councilors Richard Ortega and Danny Smith voted against the motion.

The council previously unanimously approved the resolution, which would also limit nonresidents from checking out more than five items at a time, cease all interlibrary loans to several libraries in the area and charge a $5 per hour nonresident guest use rate for the Internet, at its May 26 meeting. Since its approval, the decision has caused a copious amount of discussion and has drawn the ire of those who feel the city was discriminating against nonresidents. Vice Mayor Jason Kouts and Councilors Jason Foutz, Ken Malloque and Jerry Hancock all said they felt a fee structure is necessary to maintain the library, but the $50 charge seemed to be too extravagant.

"I apologize to the council as well as to the citizens of Safford for maybe jumping into a decision. . ." Kouts said.

Kouts suggested that maybe a fee structure based on programs and other library services would be a better way to support the library's operating cost. He said he felt simply checking out books should probably be a free service.

Hancock said most of the feedback he has received from nonresidents and residents indicates people believe a $50 charge is too much. He said it is unfortunate the revenue situation is the way it is and suggested the council needs to prioritize the city's programs. He suggested the council rescind its previous resolution at least until after they receive more feedback from the county library district feasibility committee.

Councilor Ortega disagreed and said he didn't feel $50 was that big of an expense. He added that he didn't believe the feasibility committee will come up with anything to satisfy the budgeting problem and wished Mayor Ron Green would have gotten some action out of it when it was formed more than two years ago. Green is one of the members of the committee headed up by Board of Supervisors Chairman Drew John. They held their first meeting in private June 11 at the supervisors' meeting room. Before discussion on the library fees, Green had given the council an overview of what went on at the committee meeting.

Ortega also commented on the subject of people losing business because of the council's decision to implement a library card fee. Earlier in the discussion, Councilor Foutz said he was concerned himself because a person said he would never by another vehicle from Johnson Motors, Foutz's employer, due to the council's actions.

Ortega said he learned long ago as a school board member that members of a council have to separate council business from their own private businesses.

"Decisions I made, at the time (for) the school district and now, the city, to me that's totally separate," he said. "It's up to me to run by business to the best of my ability and make decisions for the city to the best of my ability. The two can't mix as far as I'm concerned."

Foutz said he didn't see any reason why everybody, resident and nonresident, couldn't pay a smaller fee to use the library.

Green said Safford residents already pay the entire cost of the library's budget except for $45,000 paid by Graham County. He said the sales tax collected by the city pays for other city services than the library, including police and fire protection.

Foutz then asked Green how he, as a resident of Safford, was paying any more to support the library than a nonresident who also pays sales tax. He said if the only way he contributes to the library is through sales tax, than he is contributing the same as a nonresident is.

"Exactly," Green said, "but you're also, as a resident, have the um, you know, you have the discretion to how we spend the sales tax that we collect in Safford."

Hancock made a motion to rescind the resolution, and Malloque agreed with Foutz's assessment and seconded Hancock's motion.

"Residents are paying exactly the same fee into the library structure, if you will, as nonresidents at this time," Malloque said.

He said he would like to revisit the problem after the council finishes its budget and come up with a different fee structure at that time.

With the passage of Hancock's motion, the council rescinded the original resolution and will revisit possible library fees at its July 27 meeting. According to City Manager David Kincaid, the city will have a preliminary fiscal year budget adoption by that date and will know how much it will be able to contribute to the library from its general fund, which is supported by sales tax revenues.