The Missouri Western District Court of Appeals’s decision in March to direct a lower court to hear arguments about Saline County’s classification has prompted the Marshall Public Library to temporarily pause their relocation plans.

Library director Matt Rahner tells KMMO News that the dispute over Saline County’s classification could impact whether Proposition L, the voter-approved quarter-cent sales tax to fund development of the library’s future location, remains on the books.

Saline County is one of nine counties in Missouri allowed by state statute to collect a sales tax to fund library services, referencing the county’s fourth-class status. Proposition L passed in November with nearly 85 percent of Marshall voters in support. That same day, the Missouri Supreme Court remanded back to appellate court County Assessor Jessica Adcock Goodman’s lawsuit against the Saline County Commission challenging how her office is funded, which now centers on Goodman’s argument that Saline County should be reclassified as a third-class county.

Rahner says the uncertainty over the county’s classification is causing the library to delay issuing bonds to fund the renovation of the library’s future location on East Morgan.

Rahner says the library board will take further steps once the court makes a final decision on the case.  Saline County Commissioners filed an appeal last week asking that the case return to the Missouri Supreme Court, seeking the top court to hear arguments about county classification instead of returning the case to the district court.