Election Day for Atlanta

Nov. 4 is the day that Americans will choose a new president.

It’s also the day in which the residents of Atlanta, Ill., are considering a property-tax hike to boost the operations of a new museum.

From the Lincoln Courier:

Residents in the Atlanta Public Library District will be asked to approve a tax levy of 8.5 cents per $100 equalized assessed valuation. The increase would amount to a $27 annual tax hike for property with an assessed value of $100,000.

Bill Thomas, treasurer for the library district, said the increase would generate about $30,000 a year that would be used to pay for a curator and daily operations at the district’s planned museum.

The museum currently is housed in the same building as the library, but the district four years ago purchased the old Palms Grill site, a historic building that will be the museum’s new home.

“Come 2009, we are moving the museum across the street to a newly renovated building,” Thomas said. “We are going to be operating our museum in a more robust way.”

In addition to adding more exhibits to the museum, half of the first floor of the building will include a re-created Palms Grill that operated in the space from the 1930s through the 1960s.

The story doesn’t say what will happen if the tax measure fails.

The Palms Grill and the library both are on an old alignment of Route 66 that goes through town, and the the revival of the Palms seeks to play up that heritage.

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