Library levy could come November 2010

The library will not ask voters to approve a tax increase this November, but board members hope to get it on the ballot next year.

State law only allows for special library elections in city election years, so for now, the next chance of getting the tax increase on the ballot is 2011.

“We're looking at changing the legislation so we can do it at an off-city election,” Board President Susan Corrigan said. “When legislators get back into session early next year, we want this to be one of the items.”

The library board has proposed increasing the library levy from 4 cents to 27 cents per $1,000 valuation, the maximum allowed by state law, in order to pay for the cost of running a new library.

A new library will likely be built either on the south side of Greene Square Park, or at First Avenue and Eighth Street SE.

Postponing the vote will give library leadership the chance to give the public more details on the new library. Until the city council decides where it will be built, architects can't draw plans and contractors can't bid on it. The council is expected to make a decision before the end of October.

The council appears to be leaning toward the Greene Square Park location, opposite the park from the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.

“Wherever they decide, I'm going to support them,” Corrigan said. “If we make this a divisive issue, it is only going to slow the speed.”

Armed with a plan for a new library, a timeline and a firmer price tag, the library may have a better chance of winning voter approval for the tax increase.

“Why take the risk of losing, if we can wait a little longer and be successful on the first round,” Corrigan said.

The library budget was in trouble even before the flood, thanks to cuts in city funding and steady increases in library usage. The budget has taken a bigger hit since the flood than other government agencies, because the Federal Emergency Management Agency does not consider the library an essential service and therefore has not paid for interim and relocation costs.

Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Iowa City and Davenport all have a library levy at the maximum amount of 27 cents per $1,000 taxable valuation. Des Moines has no library levy.