Seattle City Council Looks at a Variety of Taxes to Fund Its Libraries

Seattle Public Library

Link to July 7 seattlepi.com article, "Seattle libraries: Raise taxes to keep them going? City Council considers a variety of options".

Excerpt: Keeping the doors open to Seattle's libraries may boil down to a simple question: What other taxes are people willing to pay to ensure they have access to the more than two dozen library branches?

Possibilities to be aired before a City Council committee Friday range from forming a new tax-support library district to a system of "earmarking" current tax receipts exclusively for libraries. There's even mention of a possible local sales tax dedicated to city libraries, though that's regarded as an outside possibility. The City may also look to Olympia for help.

The final solution "really needs to be prepared very carefully," said City Council President Richard Conlin, who is pushing to find a reliable year-to-year source of cash to support city libraries.

As with other city programs, the library question has dogged City Hall for about as long as the economy has stayed sour. Even with a $50.9-million budget this year, the system will have to lay off three staffers and has cut back hours at 15 branches to deal with a revenue shortfall.