Kitsap County voters will decide whether to approve a property tax increase to support library services in a special election on May 15.
“Our revenues haven’t kept up with our growth,” Kitsap Regional Libraries Director Jill Jean said at a Library Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday. “The demand for library services has increased at a much greater rate than our ability to pay for them.”
The trustees voted to request a new assessment of 48 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. This would be an increase of 18 cents over the current levy rate, and would give the system an additional $6.1 million in 2008.
The funds, which would be allocated over a five year period, would immediately pay for additional staff, technology, facilities, reading support and improved check-out systems. The lid lift would cover KRL’s projected $2.1 million shortfall in 2008.
KRL reports a 67 percent increase in services since 2001, but only a 15 percent increase in revenues. Trustee Althea Paulson said that service levels have maintained an acceptable level “but a lot of them are getting pretty threadbare.”
Prior to Thursday’s action the library board gathered public comments during nine public meetings, 40 community leader interviews, 1,000 public surveys, a dozen specific community discussions. By law, a library system can request up to 50 cents per $1,000.
Jean said that not going all the way to the upper limit was a deliberate move.
“This is part of being a good steward,” she said. “We are asking for what we need, not what we think we can get.”
KRL requested a levy lift only once in its 55-year history, a measure approved by voters in 1979. Since then, according to Jean, it has managed to stretch its available funds.
“I think this will have universal support from the voters,” said East Bremerton Friends of the Library President Pierre Cappuccino. “You have to consider how they are managing what they have now. They are very conservative.”
The last county wide levy lift was in Sept. 2005, when voters defeated a law enforcement increase. Jean feels that the omnipresence of the library along with its fiscally conservative track record will work in its favor.
“Libraries are something that people see every day,” Jean said. “They are part of the community. You don’t see a policeman, a fireman, or an ambulance every day. We provide a tangible service and have a built-in constituency.”
Ballots will be mailed to all registered voters two weeks prior to the May 15 special election. KRL reports approximately 170,000 patrons. Kitsap County has about 135,000 registered voters.
“This is a historic moment,” said Jean. “It is a beginning of a new future for the libraries where we can give our users what they are demanding.”
