Library district will seek levy lid lift

For the first time in 14 years, the Spokane County Library District will ask voters on Sept. 19 to lift the lid on its property tax levy, effectively keeping the tax rate the same at 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value for the next three years.

The district receives more than 90 percent of its revenues from the levy. As property values rise, the increase in tax money going to the district is expected to surpass a state limit.

Without the lid lift, the rate will likely decrease to 44 cents per $1,000 to keep total revenues within state law. For taxpayers, that would mean a $12 per year savings on a $200,000 house. For county libraries, it would mean a $985,000 decrease in their $7 million budget.

“It would be a significant impact,” said Jacob Laete, vice chairman of the library district board.

If the rate decreases, he said, it could result in fewer library hours and fewer additions to library collections.

Services would decline, according to the district, because inflation drives the costs associated with running the libraries up 3 percent to 4 percent each year, but in almost all cases state law only allows total tax collections to increase by 1 percent annually.

“We gradually lose the ability to absorb what the cost increases are,” said district Director Mike Wirt.

When they put their yearly budgets together, bodies like the library district decide how much property tax money they will need to fund their operations. Because counties keep track of how much all of the property in each taxing area is worth, the library district can figure out what the tax rate needs to be in order to collect the amount of property tax revenue it has budgeted.

The “lid” applies to a restriction on the increase in the total number of tax dollars the district collects in a given year. There are also restrictions on how much the rate itself can increase.

If voters choose to lift the lid, property owners within the library district would continue to pay at the 50-cent rate, or possibly less if property values go up more than expected, said Wirt.

The district board would use the additional revenue to expand hours at nine of the 10 district libraries. It would also buy more library materials and improve the libraries’ Internet connections.

Although it would be built using bonds approved by voters in a future election, the district also is taking steps to construct a new library in Spokane Valley. Upfront costs like hiring an architect and picking a site come from current district tax revenues.

“It (the lid lift) would give us the capital that we need to start that project,” Laete said.

So far no groups appear to be raising money to either support or defeat the lid lift, Laete and Wirt said.

Voters should read the explanations on their ballots closely. The short title of the library district’s measure reads only “maintenance and operations levy,” Wirt said. Further reading on the ballot explains that the levy itself isn’t up to a vote, only the lid on its revenue.