City Library Needs Help, Citizens Learn at Library Information Day

Due to a combination of factors including a fragile economy, decreased revenues, increased expenditures and the higher cost of doing business, the city's general fund is no longer a long-term and sustainable way to continue funding and supporting the Enumclaw city library. 

Citizens who attended Tuesday's Library Information Day -- either stopping by for an informal chat with Library Board members and staff during the day or attending the evening forum -- got that message loud and clear. 

According to data provided by the staff, the library's budget this year is the lowest it's been since 2008 at $422,454; it has no budget for materials this year; and over the last four years, the library has lost 1.40 FTE in staffing.

Library Director Bob Baer told those who attended the forum, "the last two years have been very hard on the library. We've lost staff, budget and hours of service. ...I don't see that we have the choice of not doing anything. The community is going to have to come to some decision."

That decision comes down to funding. Attendees understood that in order to guarantee that the library can continue to provide the existing services it does -- let alone make improvements as technologies and demands evolve over time -- there will be new taxes coming.

As one forum attendee put it, the decision lies in deciding if the tax comes from the city of Enumclaw or King County Library System (KCLS), which would also reflect who would then be managing the city's library, including both the building and its extensive 90+ year collection, which according to Baer, is valued currently at between $750,000 and $1 million.

An Emotional Issue

While the direction if discussion during the forum was largely steered toward exploring both options, some citizens did take advantage of the opportunity to direct their frustration with how the library issue was handled by the city toward city officials, many of whom also attended the forum.

Some were concerned that the city seemed predisposed to go with a before pulling back. Others wondered why the city appeared to no longer consider the library a core city service in terms of funding priorities.

Mayor Liz Reynolds told attendees that community feedback is sometimes hard to gauge; in this case, putting a possible annexation out there spurred the feedback the city needed to realize that voters didn't want to move in that direction at this time, she said.

Reynolds, along with City Administrator Mike Thomas as well as various members of the City Council reminded those in attendance that the library is just one city entity that competes for a piece of the general fund each year. The fund also covers everything from police to public works and that come budget season each year, it's not an easy call to decide who will get what piece of the pie. 

Ultimately, the city is paying attention to the community feedback regarding the library and looks to the comments generated at the Library Information Day to better strategize how to proceed, she said.

Polling the Public

 The majority of the more than 40 people who took part in Library Information Day say they want the library to remain a municipally supported library, based on a visual poll devised by the event's organizers to gauge community opinion.

Each person was given six colored dot stickers to stick under statements that they agreed with, posted on large butcher paper around the meeting room.

Many also said they'd support a special levy to locally fund the library. Organizers pointed out that the current levy rate in the city is 38 cents per $1,000 assessed property value and the current KCLS rate is 50 cents per $1,000, which residents outside the city limits are already paying. 

Other statements included:

• A mix of City general funds and a special levy should be used to locally support the library.
• The library should annex to the King County Library System.

(Editor's Note: The photos of these statements that accompany this article were taken prior to the evening forum but do reflect public sentiment up to that point during the day-long event.)

Larry McDonnell, a county resident who nonetheless utilizes the city library regularly, said ideally for him, an independent city library system could be set up -- analogous to KCLS -- but would remain city-run. This would mean taxes remain in the city but the funding and management of the library would be separate from the main city administration, overseen by an independent city organization dedicated to the library, he said.

"I love this library," he said. "To have local control, especially with all the historical items here, it's a meaningful thing to consider."

Moving Forward

McDonnell said he appreciated Tuesday's Information Day. "It was a good thing and was definitely needed. ... but what it tells me is that somebody -- probably the Library Board here -- has a huge job ahead of educating voters in Enumclaw about the situation."

It would be nice for the city to be able to continue funding the library sustainably, but, "things have changed, and we have to deal with the reality we have and find a permanent source of funding," he said.

Baer agreed that there was still a lot of misinformation among citizens. "We want people to be involved and understand the issue. ... It was good to have the community involved in this forum. I'd like to see more of that and we would work as a team to come up with answers to questions that were brought up here -- the Board, the administration and myself."

Board member Jim Barchek pointed out that the City Council's resolution instructing staff to pursue KCLS though the language has been changed such as a specific date for action now reads vaguely, "in the future."

The Board and library staff have some time to build on Tuesday's event in order to continue information the public, but the budget season for next year looms for the City Council, and the library will undoubtedly be a hot issue when that time comes, Baer said.

However taxes are ultimately administered -- either through the city or KCLS -- Reynolds reminded the attendees that the overwhelming sentiment among residents is 'no new taxes.' Therefore the decision over how best to proceed with library operations and management is a sensitive one. "You really only have one shot," she said.

A Sampling of Comments

These comments were written on a large sheet of paper on display during Tuesday's event under the question, "What services would you like the library to provide?"

"Continue computers available ... Video + DVD"

"I am very happy with the current services and have been for over 40 years."

"Doing great!"

"Keep our senior staff! ... Children's programs"

"Doing best you can with what you have"

"We need a flyer delineating specifically what the comparative costs and benefits are under each option!"

"I appreciate what is available now. Most important to me is: available books [AND] local control. I wonder if community volunteers might be utilized to teach ESL classes, children's story-time, etc. The computers we have are meeting needs."