What’s it worth to keep your local library open an extra day, or several more hours, every week?
Would you pay $16 per year?
How about $24 or $32?
The Fort Vancouver Regional Library District is poised to ask voters in its four-county territory to approve a levy lid increase on property taxes, targeting the Aug. 17 primary election.
FVRL seeks up to $3 million more each year that officials say would restore days and hours of library branch operation to pre-2009 levels, rebuild thinning book collections and offset falling revenue caused by slumping property values and other economic woes.
If approved, the request would lift the library’s portion of property taxes to its statutory maximum of 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
That’s a rate business and homeowners in Clark, Skamania and Klickitat counties and parts of Cowlitz County have paid previously, most recently in 2001.
The current levy rate is about 38 cents per $1,000.
No firm dollar or tax rate for the ballot measure will be set before May, after 2010 assessments that will determine 2011 tax values are confirmed.
But early FVRL estimates put the proposed increase at about 8 cents per $1,000 of assessed value — from 42 to 50 cents.
That would add $16 per year in taxes for a household worth $200,000 and $24 for a home worth $300,000.
It would be the library district’s first levy lid ballot request since 1993, said Bruce Ziegman, executive director. It would need a simple majority to pass.
The current property tax will bring in $16.6 million, or 98 percent of the library district’s operating budget for 2010. It has grown more important as other library revenues are weakened — from a sharp decline in Washington state timber sale proceeds to a $332,000 write-off for uncollected taxes this year.
Due to slumping values, the yearly growth in property tax collections has shrunk from $790,000 in 2007 to $44,000 this year, said Patty Duitman, FVRL budget manager.
That’s not enough to keep pace with costs, despite budget cuts the district made in early 2009. FVRL shut many of its 13 branches one more day each week, trimmed operating hours and cut 24 jobs, including 11 employee layoffs. Others had their work hours reduced.
In the meantime, visitor counts have surged during lean times, while shelved items — books, magazines, videos and other materials — have noticeably thinned, officials concede. The system can’t afford new purchases that are needed.
“People use their libraries more than ever during hard times,” Ziegman said. “Books, and access to them, are our bread-and-butter.”
Concerns raised
Trepidation and hope mingled as the FVRL board of trustees approved groundwork for an August vote during Wednesday’s special meeting at the newly opened Cascade Park Community Library.
Trustees met only hours after school replacement tax levies swept to victory across Clark County — and also across Cowlitz and Klickitat counties — boosting confidence enough to ask for a public levy vote.
The board’s own tally was 7-0, despite some reservations.
“We are all going to have to work very hard on this,” said trustee Merle Koplan, linked by speaker phone. “We can’t rest on the laurels of what we’ve done in the past, or what the schools have done.”
FVRL has privately surveyed and casually questioned library users to gauge support for increasing its funds, and found consistent support.
Trustee Rose Smith said her own polling finds users want a public vote. “We can’t say what’s best for all these families. They need to vote,” she said.
Linda Thomas, head of the FVRL Foundation board of directors, which would mount a pro-levy campaign, raised concern. A levy request would hit voters who just agreed to pay more for schools, supported a $43 million library construction bond measure in 2006 and who may face new piecemeal tax increases when Washington legislators finish plugging a multibillion-dollar state deficit, she said.
Then, there’s worry over the shaky economy, Thomas said.
“I’ve struggled a lot over this,” said trustee Jane Higgins, picking up on Thomas’ thread.
“By the time we get to August, it’s going to be, ‘Oh, just a few more dollars for this, for that,’” Higgins said of potential taxes.
Board leader Bill Yee agreed that August — where hard-fought votes to help determine a successor to U.S. Rep. Brian Baird and a November challenger to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray will highlight the ballot — “will be very politically charged.”
“But, I think this is something we need to do,” Yee said.
“We don’t take it for granted that schools and libraries are the same, but we’re encouraged” by Tuesday’s results, he said.
Howard Buck: 360-735-4515 or howard.buck@columbian.com.
