Voters in Lincoln County Library District being asked to renew 9 cent levy to help fund operations

 

By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews

Voters in several small cities and unincorporated areas of Lincoln County will have a chance to decide whether to help keep library services going in the May 21 primary election.

The Lincoln County Library District is asking voters to renew a levy of nine cents per $1,000 assessed property value for five years. If approved, the levy would keep funding at current levels for the libraries in Lincoln City, Newport, Siletz, Toledo and Waldport, which are in part funded by the district.

But it is voters in unincorporated areas of the county and who live outside the city limits of Lincoln City, Newport, Toledo and Yachats who will decide the levy.

The measure is estimated to bring in about $403,500 in tax revenue for 2025-26, rising to $454,136 for 2029-2030. The current local option tax is expiring.

Lincoln County commissioners created the library district in 1988 and in 1991 voters approved a permanent tax rate of 24.6 cents per $1,000 assessed property value to fund much of the district’s activities.

In 2004, voters approved the first local option levy of 9 cents per $1,000 and have approved renewing it every five years. The cost for property assessed at $300,000 would be $27 a year.

The library district collects money from all property owners except those who live within the city limits of Lincoln City, Newport, Toledo and Yachats.

Its budget is now $2.4 million a year with about 70 percent that going to the libraries in Lincoln City, Newport, Toledo, Siletz, and Waldport, with the rest used for district staff and services for member libraries. Those services include courier delivery of books and DVDs to member library, interlibrary loan services, cataloging library materials so that they can be accessed by all library users, and support of countywide summer reading programs for all county libraries and residents.

The proposed levy “is not an additional tax, it is a renewal of an already existing levy,” the Waldport Library Foundation said in a statement of support in the county voter’s pamphlet.

At the Waldport Library, which has a robust slate of community programs in place year ‘round, “We really serve everybody in the county,” said executive director Sue Bennett. “We’re so much more than ‘just’ a library; we’re really a community hub.”

During the last fiscal year, nearly 3,000 people took part in Waldport’s services and long list of programs, Bennett said, and books, DVDs and magazines are always available along with e-books and audio books. Then there’s Babies Story Time, craft nights, workshops, computer and Wi-Fi usage, a meeting room, a summer reading program, speakers, a chess club, and resources for social services such as Meals on Wheels, health and counseling.

In addition, patrons at the Waldport facility can also take advantage of the library’s membership in a district book-sharing consortium, plus a nationwide interlibrary loan program that accesses materials throughout the country.

The Waldport library receives three-fourths of its budget or about $300,000 a year from the library district — $115,000 of that coming from the local option levy and the rest from the district’s permanent tax base. The city of Waldport contributes $100,000.

“It’s the majority of our budget,” said Bennett says of the library district’s funding.

Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, the library has four other paid staff besides Bennett. “There’s always someone knowledgeable on hand to help,” she said.

“Please support our libraries,” the Waldport foundation urged in its voter’s pamphlet statement. “They are an essential part of every community, and one of the last sources of free entertainment and education for all ages.”

• Cheryl Romano is a Yachats freelance reporter who contributes regularly to YachatsNews.com. She can be reached at Wordsell@gmail.com