Library seeks first tax hike

The Benewah County Library District is asking voters to do something this year that they’ve never done before: increase property taxes to pay for library operations.

Taxpayers now pay 11.6 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to the district, for a total collection of about $42,000 a year, said Joanne O’Dwyer, librarian at the district library in Fernwood. The district wants to more than double the tax rate, to 25 cents per $1,000.

“We won’t even be able to maintain what we have if this doesn’t pass,” O’Dwyer said. “It’s just keeping the doors open.”

The district contracts with the city libraries in St. Maries and Plummer to allow county residents access to them.

Along with the Fernwood branch, the district recently took over operation of the library in Tensed.

This caused an increase in the district’s basic operating expenses, O’Dwyer said, but the district’s tax rate hasn’t increased since it formed in 1965.

“Typically people think, ‘Oh, my property taxes are going to go up, egad,’ ” O’Dwyer said. “But what they need to realize is that the district is living on 1965’s budget.”

The district has had to use money from its savings to make up for budget shortfalls the past few years, and now those savings are almost gone, O’Dwyer said.

The libraries do all they can to save money by conserving and sharing resources, she said.

“We’re really good at that – that’s how libraries survive,” she said. “But we want to see them thrive.”

O’Dwyer said the district would like to use a portion of the additional tax revenue for high-speed Internet access at the district libraries, but most of the money would need to support existing services.

The district received a grant from the Idaho State Library to help organize support for the library.

That funding enabled the district to make refrigerator magnets touting local libraries and other campaign promotions, O’Dwyer said.

County Library Director Margaret Benson has been talking with local civic groups, and a crop of “Vote Library” signs have sprung up along roadways.

“You really do have to market your services,” O’Dwyer said.

Coeur d’Alene passed a $3 million levy last year to help fund construction of a new library.

O’Dwyer said she doesn’t know of any vocal opposition to the levy. The local weekly newspaper polled readers on its Web site about the levy and the majority said they didn’t want it, but O’Dwyer said she’s optimistic the results don’t reflect the community’s true views.

“I just hope to heck it passes,” she said.