Opinion - Whatcom View

POSTED: Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

Why to support the county library ballot proposition

I don't love to pay taxes any more than you do, but my street would look awful if each homeowner was responsible to pave just their own frontage with sidewalk. Some stuff is better when everybody chips in for a specific project that we actually want. So, what about the county library system?

Okay, it's on the November 3 ballot for any county residents outside of Bellingham's city tax area. It's an easy yes vote for those who like the system-wide access to bestselling books and DVD's, meeting space, children's story time, Wi-Fi and more.

But Proposition No. 1 is not a bailout, the library didn't fail. It's not a handout, this community chose to have a library and had picked a rate we agreed on. What happened is that when more users join our tax pool, a 2001 law forbids the library system from receiving that increase in order to match the growing demand.

You would think that when thousands of people move here, the increasing demand would be paid for by the increased tax pool. Well, not since the 1 percent cap went into effect. In 2001, an initiative promised to cap our property tax at 1 percent annual increases. That sounded great to tax dislikers who want to stop the size of public programs from getting out of control. Yet it didn't stop property taxes from skyrocketing. Valuation changes can still double or triple a property tax.

What actually gets limited by the cap is the total ongoing operating budget of the library system, no matter how much the demand increases. The bubble has burst on new construction, so the single-time bonus benefit that those provide to the libraries have no longer been sufficient to mask the flawed rate cap. The only guaranteed ongoing revenue is capped at 1 percent annual increase, even if our county population grows to the size of China and everyone wants books. That's just stupid. That's not what people wanted.

If Proposition No. 1 fails, there will be ongoing reductions in open hours and services. There is no five loaves and two fish magic to use here. WCLS has nine physical branches, plus five bookmobile stops. Each year all of them would lose more and more hours or numbers of days per week, and have slower service.

None of this would have happened if the original rate had been left alone. For 29 years, the standard 50 cents per thousand of house value was perfect to fund the library. Now, the total figure the library receives is frozen and capped. As more people move here, that undersized budget is split by more and more people each paying a smaller share, now down to 33.8 cents and dropping. The old fixed rate let the service grow with the population, the new cap means the service stays small as the demand grows bigger.

Proposition No. 1 is a decision to either correctly maintain a service people demand, or to let it whither because of a technicality. Local taxes pay for things you actually can see, like sidewalks, police, and libraries. People want these things, and we agree to chip in and share the cost.

Let's not confuse this with federal tax. Who knows where that money is going? You send money to D.C. and it might wind up building expensive and wasteful things in far off states, or bailing out banks. I wish I could pick and choose federal programs right on my ballot, like the way we decide a local library levy or a school or jail bond. Tick yes or no to bomb North Korea, build a border fence, give disaster relief to Thailand or New Orleans, send troops to Darfur ... you pick each item. That's not going to happen, but on local measures, we can still pick what we get.

Students, children, families, homeschoolers, and anyone trying to save expenses can use the services of the library. It's a cornerstone to the whole community. Proposition No. 1 puts the rate halfway back to what it was supposed to be in the first place. For my $22, it's a no brainer.

Please visit www.yeslibraries.com for more information.

Richard May is chair of "Yes, Libraries" campaign.