For over 80 years, the City of Ketchikan has operated the local library. This October, voters will be given the opportunity to change that.
Earlier this spring, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough voted to dissolve its library funding agreement with the city, which includes a set borough contribution. That decision meant the city and the borough would have to negotiate a new contract by the end of the year. That work is now on pause.
A group of citizens submitted a petition last month to have the Ketchikan Gateway Borough take full ownership of the library. All borough voters will be able to vote on the measure in the Oct. 6 election. If it passes, it would also transfer responsibility of all operations and debt to the borough.
Supporters of the measure, including petitioner Judith McQuerry, say this initiative aims to simplify funding and make it equal for all residents across the island who all have library access.
“There has been ongoing controversy and disagreement over the funding and management between the borough and the city,” McQuerry said. “This ballot initiative serves to solve that problem by ensuring fair funding and governance community-wide.”
Both local governments are figuring out the implications of that. At a recent borough assembly meeting, Borough Attorney Glenn Brown said they are trying to plan ahead without being able to predict how events will unfold.
“The challenge is there’s really nobody either in the borough or on the city side who is able to have anything other than kind of high level theoretical discussions at this point,” Brown told the assembly.
If the ballot measure passes, the transfer of ownership would go into effect immediately.
Right now, although all borough residents have access to the library, people across the island pay different amounts. City of Ketchikan residents pay the most for library services. It’s part of the city property taxes. The portion of those property taxes that go to the library equals about 1.4 mills. That means city residents pay about $140 annually for library services for every $100,000 of assessed property value. People who don’t live within city limits pay about $60 yearly per $100,000 of assessed property value, or a 0.6 mill levy. Residents of the nearby City of Saxman pay nothing.
The votes of the measure will be tabulated in two groups. For the proposition to pass, there must be a majority of voters outside city limits who vote yes, and a separate majority of voters within the city limits of Ketchikan and Saxman. If it doesn’t pass in both groups, the measure fails. Brown expects that if the measure fails, borough staff will then work on renegotiating a new funding agreement with the city. If it passes, he says the biggest challenge is how the transfer of power will happen.
It will be up to the city council to reduce property taxes in order to offset a new levy from the borough. At a Ketchikan City Council meeting earlier this month, the council directed staff to identify the portion of property taxes city residents pay that currently go towards library services to evaluate any additional levies that may be added to meet funding needs. The existing portion of the city’s levy that has been set aside for library contribution has been sufficient funding in recent years.
Another problem brought up by both governments is the timeline. The borough and city operate on different fiscal years. The city’s fiscal year ends in December, while the borough’s ends in July.
“We would need to have some discussions about how to maintain the operation during that period of time, when really no one right now has money budgeted to operate the library from January to June,” Brown said. “So nobody at staff level is able to offer that solution.”
For years, there’s been disagreement on island-wide library funding for various reasons.
Assembly member Bridget Mattson says she supports the library and wants it to be fully funded through a new agreement. She said she is not necessarily against the borough taking over library powers, but she worries this ballot measure is rushing things before anyone has time to responsibly plan.
“I’m deeply, deeply concerned that the problem is that we don’t have a plan, but we will be voting on something that doesn’t have clear understanding to the public,” Mattson said.
Library expenses have been on the rise in recent years. Most of those costs are staffing, and library director Pat Tully has said it’s the consequences of rising costs of operations.
Assembly member Rodney Dial has said the only reason library funding is being discussed is because the library needs to limit spending. He said the rise in increasing library expenses is more than just keeping up with inflation.
“We’re paying for it,” Dial said. “We’re trying to say we need to keep those expenses in line with inflation, or we’re going to have tax increase after tax increase.”
He expressed concern that if this passes, everyone’s property taxes would increase.
“We’re trying to protect the people that say they can’t afford groceries, they can’t afford health care, they can’t afford rent,” Dial said.
According to a memo from borough staff about the proposal, an island-wide levy necessary to support library operations would equal a 100% increase in property taxes for people living outside city limits, going from the current 0.6 to 1.2 mills. It would tack on a brand new levy for Saxman residents, who currently have no library contribution. If nothing else changes, Ketchikan residents would be paying the island-wide levy from the borough on top of the existing levy to the city — so unless and until the city council repeals the existing levy, Ketchikan residents could be paying twice.
This isn’t the first time there was a measure on the ballot challenging areawide power. Four years ago, there was a ballot proposition to repeal the borough’s nonareawide library powers and defund the library. It failed.
Both the borough assembly and the city council decided to take no action until election results are finalized in October. Whether the proposition passes or not, both governments will have to work quickly to make financial and logistical decisions before the end of the calendar year to avoid a funding gap for the library.
The borough has already issued the notice to terminate the current funding agreement with the city, effective Dec. 31.
The Ketchikan City Council meets this Thursday for a regular meeting. A work session regarding library powers is on the agenda.
