American Fork residents may soon weigh in on whether the city should increase taxes for the library, or for recreation, arts and parks.

Council members in a meeting on Thursday discussed raising the sales tax, excluding food and food ingredients, by a penny per $10 spent in order to raise $113,000 a year for recreation, arts and parks.

In addition, the council discussed raising property taxes $12 a month for a $170,000 home to better fund the library.

Council members agreed to discuss both potential tax increases in more depth in upcoming meetings.

In both cases, the tax could be used to increase services or just replace the money the city already spends on those services, which would allow the city to spend more on roads, sidewalks and other infrastructure.

The sales tax increase would need to be on the November ballot, while the property tax increase would be a council vote after holding public hearings.

"This is not a proposal, we are just saying there is such a thing and we are exploring the value of it and looking to see if the timing is good," said Mayor Heber Thompson.

"This could free up money in the general fund for other stuff we don't have money for, like sidewalks and emergencies," said Councilwoman Sherry Kramer.

Because the increased taxes could replace, not supplement, what the city already spends, "it is not raising new money for arts and parks and so we would have no one to advocate for it," said Councilwoman Heidi Rodeback.

"That would be awfully hard to sell to the public," Thompson said.

The city would need to think about using at least part of the new money to expand programs, council members said.

To get residential support, the council would have to show the public that the tax increase would allow the city to save money for an arts center, finish existing parks, and acquire 100 acres south of the freeway for a recreation complex, said Councilman Shirl Lebaron.

Asking for a tax increase is going to be difficult because residents have already approved an increase to pay for pressurized irrigation and the city has raised fees, even as the price of gasoline is rising, council members said.

City staffers said that if the council is only willing to consider one tax increase, the library tax would be preferable.

American Fork now spends $671,000 a year on its library. The tax would raise $1.2 million a year to help increase the library's collection of books, music and books on tape, and the city could take what it now spends and hold that money back to use on roads, sidewalks and other infrastructure needs.

Rodeback said American Fork residents check out more books than either Pleasant Grove or Lehi, which have more residents, and American Fork's book collection is smaller than those cities and out of date.

The library catalog is now online, which has spurred more usage, and the city expects to soon enter into a north county library system, which would increase usage again, she said.

"We rely largely on discarded books," she said. "We are woefully deficient in our [book] collection budget. I think it is terribly important. We have public demand and with the number of children we are raising in our community, we need to have a good library."

"How can you argue with that?" Lebaron said.

Rodeback said she would like to explore whether residents would support both a tax increase for the library and an increase for recreation, arts and parks.

Council members said they would like to propose the taxes to the public and hold hearings to gauge whether there is popular support.

If the city wishes to hold hearings to change the property tax levy, the city must notify the county by March 1, said city staffers.