Mid-Columbia Libraries looks to bring more cities into the fold

Voracious readers in Prosser, West Richland, Pasco and Kahlotus have the same opportunity to attend storytimes and check out materials as any other Mid-Columbia Libraries patron.

But library officials are looking to make those cities officially part of the library district.

Executive Director Kyle Cox and his staff plan to start talking with leaders in the four cities in the coming months. Pasco, West Richland, Prosser and Kahlotus pay the Mid-Columbia Libraries to provide library services in their communities.

And, if they agree, each city would need to officially ask the library district to begin the annexation process. But it would ultimately be up to the voters in each town to approve the annexation.

Richland is not part of the discussions because it maintains its own library system.

Cox said that annexing the cities that already are served by Mid-Columbia Libraries ensures library users would get the service without interruption, and it guarantees the library district a direct source of tax revenue to provide that service.

Prosser Mayor Randy Taylor said the issues has come up before.

“We’re definitely open to all possibilities for the library and our constituents,” he told the Herald.

But it also could mean higher property taxes for city residents if their city councils don’t lower their tax rates once they are no longer footing the bill for library services.

Mid-Columbia Libraries, as with many rural library districts, was originally intended to serve unincorporated communities in Benton and Franklin counties.

That gradually changed, locally and across the state, as many cities gave up their own library systems to become part of broader library districts. The last city to annex into Mid-Columbia Libraries was Kennewick in the 1990s.

“What you saw happening was cities joining library districts because of the stable funding,” Cox said.

Property owners in the library district pay a tax to support the libraries. Last year, it was about 37 cents per $1,000 of assessed property, or about $37 for a home valued at $100,000.

The levy rate is projected to increase to about 38 cents this year. The library district is expected to collect about $4.5 million of its $9.6 million in revenues from property taxes this year, according to budget documents.

The Pasco, Prosser, West Richland and Kahlotus contracts totaled about $2.2 million for the library district last year. The individual contract amounts were not immediately available.

City governments typically use property taxes from their general funds for the library service contracts, though West Richland uses a utility tax to pay for its library branch.

With so much property excluded from the library district, only about 60 percent of revenue for Mid-Columbia Libraries comes from property taxes. That’s compared with about 95 percent for library districts in other parts of the state.

Cox explained that contracts don’t provide as predictable of funding as a property tax does, because contracts must be renegotiated or could be discontinued or canceled.

It also means a lot of staff time is dedicated to negotiating contracts, as was the case with Pasco in 2010 and West Richland in 2015.

If a city council agrees to pursue annexation and its residents approve a ballot measure, the library district would still have individual lease agreements with each city for its individual branches. That’s because most of the libraries are housed in city-owned buildings.

It would be up to each annexed city to decide if it would reduce its own taxes to make up for dropping its library service contract.

Taylor said that he would want the Prosser council to look at reducing its taxes if it becomes part of the district.

“We just wouldn’t want to tax people for that,” he said.

Mid-Columbia Libraries’ contract with Pasco allows annexation to be discussed this year if either the city or district raises the issue, library officials said.

Pasco Mayor Matt Watkins said Mid-Columbia Libraries has always provided great service and he would welcome a discussion about annexation. However, he said that any conjecture about what annexation would look like — specifically how it would affect taxes — is premature.

Library officials broached the idea of annexation with Kahlotus leaders in the past year, and Cox said they sounded receptive. However, library and West Richland officials said it’s unlikely annexation will be considered in the near future, as they just recently finished negotiating a new contract.

Jessica Platt, West Richland’s finance director, said a commission is being put together on how to support a library in West Richland in the future, but it’s too soon to say if that includes annexation into the library district.

And what about Richland, which still has its own library but is surrounded Mid-Columbia Libraries’ service area?

Cox said he wants to see more collaboration between the two, but said any discussion of Richland joining Mid-Columbia Libraries needs to wait.

“Talking annexation with Richland would be like going on a first date and talking about your future children’s weddings,” he said.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Mid-Columbia Libraries looks to bring more cities into the fold."