By Joshua Adam Hicks
jhicks@bellevuereporter.com
Voters will decide in the all-mail special election next month whether to lift the state lid on property-tax levies so the King County Library System (KCLS) can raise additional operating revenue.
Proposition 1 from the King County Rural Library District would increase the levy rate to 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, or $250 for a home worth $500,000, in 2011. The current rate would cost $210 for the same home.
The total revenue generated by a successful Proposition 1 vote would become the base for additional levy increases of 1 percent each year as allowed by law.
Initiative 747, which voters passed in 2001, established a 1-percent limit on annual levy growth.
Voters in 2002 approved a levy lift for the district to collect property taxes at a rate of 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
KCLS says revenue growth since then has not kept pace with inflation and rising operating costs driven by a 43-percent increase in library usage.
The district’s operating budget has increased by $23 million since 2003, when the last levy lift took effect.
The KCLS board of directors has also given director Bill Ptacek four raises since 2002, elevating his salary from $137,000 to $161,000.
Proposition 1 opponents say the district needs to make tough cuts like every other public agency dealing with the economy.
KCLS cut $1.9 million out of its operating budget in 2009 and sought private funding to support some of its programs and services.
Proposition 1 opponents are angry with election mailers from the district that state “KCLS now needs to ask voters to restore the library levy rate for one year to 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, to be collected in 2011.”
Kirkland resident Will Knedlik says the language implies a temporary tax hike with no additional increases in subsequent years.
“When you tell voters they’re voting for an increase for one year and it’s in fact for multiple years, you have a bait-and-switch tactic,” he said. “I’m not acquainted with any agency in government that has told this type of bold-faced lie.”
A spokesperson for the library system said the wording was approved by their attorney.
KCLS has a troubled past in terms of campaign behavior.
In 2005, the state Public Disclosure Commission determined that the organization, under the guidance of Ptacek, used $124,000 in library resources to promote a 2004 capital bond measure for the district.
State law prohibits the use of public facilities in election campaigns.
Proposition 1 opponents say KCLS also could have saved $500,000 by running its ballot measure during the 2010 primary, when there is potential for more groups to share election costs.
KCLS says there is no difference.
“Our experience has been that it costs the same amount,” said KCLS finance director Linda Glenicki. “Most of the larger school districts are on the ballot this time around. We’re sharing the cost as much as we could with any other election.”
