Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home City Council is considering this week whether to place a levy request for the public library on the Jan. 28 ballot.
Voters turned down a request for a four-year levy in November. The levy would have increased service levels and provided cash flow during the first part of the fiscal year, July through November.
The current levy expires on June 30, leaving three opportunities, January, March and May, for the city to pass a levy to continue library services.
The council held a work session Tuesday night to discuss the library levy, possibly taking action during its regular meeting to place a new levy request on the Jan. 28 ballot, which includes a ballot measure by the state to add a three-year surcharge to the income tax.
The council is deciding when to put the levy request on the ballot again and in what to ask for, City Manager Craig Martin said. “There’s been some feedback that the increase was too large.”
The library levy, currently $122,384 would have increased to $207,696, an increase of 69.71 percent in the first year of the new levy. The levy would have provided one additional part-time worker, moved the library director’s position from three-quarter time to full time, provided a larger book budget and provided cash flow for the library to operate the first four months of the year.
Overall, Martin has received little feedback on the voters’ decision but heard many say they were surprised it didn’t pass. His assumption is the request was too large.
Going back to the status quo presents some difficulties, Martin said. The library’s levy has not kept up with rising utility and other costs, such as books. It also leaves the general fund supporting the library during the first four months of the year. The library levy pays the general fund back after November.
“At this point, we need to figure out what we think is our smallest amount so we can pretty much maintain services, like we did with the Police Department,” Martin said.
The results of Tuesday’s meeting were unavailable at press time.