Citizens Group Proposes Special Tax for Library

A citizens group considering ways to find new funds for the beleaguered Pasadena Public Library has proposed a special tax to raise $6.7 million a year.

The levy--which would cost each single-family residence $96 a year and each apartment $60--would allow the city-owned library to restore many of the services that have been pared in recent years because of budget cuts, members of the 10-member citizens task force said.

The group, which has been considering alternative funding sources for three months, presented its recommendations Wednesday to the city’s Library Commission, which will present the plan to the City Council.

The council must act by March 15 to get the measure on a ballot for a special election in June. Two-thirds of the voters must approve the measure for it to be enacted.

The library system, which includes the Central Library and eight branches, is in crisis, task force members said.

“The library can either remain where it is, not fully funded, or it can be once more the world-class institution that it has the reputation of being,” John Kennedy, the group’s co-chairman, said.

Library officials said that the library has lost 65% of its book budget in the last three years and that operating hours have been cut more than a third. Since last fall, the Central Library has been closed Mondays and weekday mornings, and branch libraries are open only four days a week. In addition, many other services and programs, such as author lectures and film series, have been cut.

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Library workers pitched in last year, turning down raises of 3.5% and 4% to save $100,000 for the library budget.

Because of the prospect that the city will receive an even smaller share of property taxes and community redevelopment funds dispensed by the state next year, the library faces deeper cuts, task force members said.

Without alternative funding, some branch libraries will probably be closed, Sunday hours at the Central Library will be eliminated and the book budget will be cut further, they said.

“If we proceed as we’re going right now, it’s clear to the members of the task force that we will not have, over the long term, a stable, predictable, adequate source of funding for the library system,” task force co-Chairman Ross Selvidge said.

With new tax revenues and other sources of funding, such as fines on overdue books, the library system could be self-sufficient, with an annual budget of about $7.1 million.

Library officials say they are confident that a library tax measure will be well-received by the voters. A local research firm conducted two surveys since the beginning of the year, indicating that voters had strong positive feelings about the city’s library system.

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More than 96% of the respondents in one survey agreed that the library is very important to the community and almost 90% said it was very important to the schools. In the second survey, almost 64% said they supported a special library tax and two-thirds of the respondents said they would vote in a special election.

About 200 people participated in each of the surveys, which were conducted by the firm Pactech.

The Library Commission, which advises the City Council on library matters, is likely to pass the task force’s recommendations on to the council quickly. One commissioner, Katherine Padilla, is also a member of the task force. Commission Chairwoman Cathy Brooke was a non-voting member of the task force.