Pasco residents fear end of bookmobile

PASCO -- For some Pasco residents, the Mid-Columbia Libraries is almost as close as their doorstep.

A colorful bookmobile with shelves full of books and movies provides library services to rural areas of the Mid-Columbia region.

Kandi Massey of Pasco said she and her neighbors are concerned that if Pasco doesn't renew its contract with Mid-Columbia Libraries, they'll lose their bookmobile stop on Argent Road. The library on wheels visits her neighborhood every two weeks.

Pasco and the library district are in the midst of contract negotiations because the current contract ends next year. Both are waiting for an informal opinion from the state Attorney General's Office on whether a city can pick and choose services and pay only for those services rather than receiving a package deal. The opinion is expected in mid- to late January.

The city of Pasco is looking at ways to decrease library costs, including negotiating a new contract with the district or operating a municipal library.

The city council has expressed concern over the increasing cost of the library contract, said Stan Strebel, Pasco deputy city manager. Property values, which the library fee is based on, have grown rapidly.

Between 2000 and 2009, the library fee increased an average of 11.5 percent each year, he said. In 2000, the fee was $455,000. This year, it was about $1.2 million.

"It's a big jump," he said.

In the meantime, the city's property tax rate has actually declined, Strebel said.

Massey said she thinks Pasco should stick with the library district. "We are getting a great deal for our money," she said.

Bookmobile service is something that wasn't included in the $1.1 million municipal library option consultant Ruth Metz created for Pasco in June. Metz also did an October 2008 analysis of Pasco's library options, including contracting with the district, the city of Richland or a corporation, annexing to the district or establishing a municipal library.

Both studies showed Pasco is getting a good deal with the library district, said Kyle Cox, Mid-Columbia Libraries administrative service director.

The per capita cost of library service in Pasco is about half what Richland, which operates a municipal library, pays, Strebel said.

The district has 397,000 items for users to access, Cox said. The Pasco branch carries about 60,000.

The city questions the equity of the current payment system, Strebel said.

Of the eight cities the district serves, Pasco gets the lowest direct return on its dollar, he said.

The Pasco library last year received 33 cents on each dollar the city paid to the district, Strebel said. Prosser received $1.15 per $1, West Richland received 62 cents and Kennewick, which has two libraries, received 59 cents per $1.

The city owns the Pasco library building and pays for utilities and maintenance.

There are a lot of expenses shared within the district, such as technology, technical services and processing, Cox said. Money non-city residents pay also goes toward supporting the Pasco branch.

Pasco also benefits from Mid-Columbia's bookmobile service.

About 416 city residents use the bookmobile service, Strebel said, citing a July letter from the district. In that same letter, the bookmobile cost was estimated at $125,000 a year.

That means less than 1 percent of city residents use a service that represents 10 percent of the city's fee, Strebel said.

From January through November, there have been 4,981 bookmobile customer visits in the Pasco area, Cox said. The cost to operate the bookmobile in Pasco in 2008 was about $95,000.

The district has scheduled 18 stops in or bordering Pasco as an interim measure to fill the need of an additional library building, Cox said.

According to the June consultant report, the current library is already too small for the population it serves.

With the city's size, $1 million for library service doesn't seem so steep, said Megan Williams of Pasco. She uses the Argent bookmobile stop each time it comes. It is only a few blocks from her home, whereas a visit to the Pasco library means a 20-minute drive one-way.

When she brings her three children, they can look at the books and materials without getting lost like they would at the Pasco library, Williams said.

If the city went with a municipal library, it would take too long to build up a collection of books, Williams said.

Mary Kay Britton, who also uses the Argent bookmobile stop, said she hasn't purchased a book outside of cookbooks in about 10 years.

Friends who live in Richland don't get half of the library services Pasco does through the library district, she said.