Library Referenda 2003: Subtle Tactics Win Votes

Does Santa Claus like libraries? In Arapahoe County, CO, he does and even campaigned for the successful holiday season operating levy for the library. The stories that come out of this year's referenda reinforce the political nature of libraries, both good and bad. They range from the tennis court squabble that nearly sunk a new library building in Peachtree, GA, to the Ottumwa, IA, city council shell game with the newly voter-approved library levy. In large part, even in these difficult economic times and with the looming impact of the war in Iraq, America's voters continued to support their libraries, choosing to open their pocket books in small towns and big cities to build bigger libraries and buy better services.

In 2003, we saw an average number of building (59) and operating (48) referenda. Of the 59 building referenda, 76 percent, or 45, passed, with an average approval of 63 percent. Over $434 million was on the ballot, with $303 million approved. While this approval rate was higher than the 60 percent of 2002, which was the lowest since 1988, it still did not begin to approach the approval rates of the late 1990s, which were generally in the high 80 percent and up ranges. Special elections were more popular than general elections, a reversal of the trend over the past years. The other trend seen in recent years, competition on the ballot from other items, continued in 2003, with 61 percent of the building referenda seeing other items on the ballot. Half the states had buildings on the ballot, with New York leading the way with ten projects in front of the voters.

Over the past 17 years, voters have approved over $5.9 billion for new libraries, an amount that not only has helped improve library service nationwide but which has also served as a major economic stimulant.

Of the 48 operating referenda, 33 (69%) passed. This is in line with the passage rates of the last couple of years. Only 14 states had operating referenda on the ballot, including New York, which has its own unique take on taking it to the voters, with library patrons voting literally in the library on an annual basis if there is an increase requested. New York, not included in the total operating referenda in this report, has 175 potential elections each year.

The New England town meeting, a remnant of an earlier, simpler America, proved to be a library's best friend. In Monroe, CT, on September 29 at a town meeting sporting the highest attendance in town history, an overwhelming vote of 204 to 7 resulted in a new 30,000 square foot library for the small community. In the quaintly worded warrant for the Newport, NH, town meeting, jumbled among articles to buy dump trucks and save the Belknap Street Bridge, residents were asked "To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of Seven Hundred Twenty Thousand Dollars…" for the Richards Free Library. The Eagle Times opined that voters "will have the opportunity to show how much they cherish this community jewel," and 82 percent of the residents went forth and did so.

The campaigns run for new buildings tell stories. Susan Schwarz, director of the Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library in Dracut, MA, characterized the start of their campaign as "no committee, no organization, and no 'political leaders' ready to take charge." They soldiered on with hand-written addresses on town mailings and the town manager and police chief all holding signs on street corners at 6 a.m. in 3° weather. By now the ground will have been broken for the library that the voters of Dracut wanted.

Librarians also learn by losing. Karen Tate-Pettinger, director of the Portneuf District Library in Chubbuck, ID, relates winning a May election influenced by a loss the prior November. The campaign in the losing season featured full-color brochures and TV interviews. The winning campaign used word of mouth, two little billboards near the library, and a campaign committee made up of the library director and six patrons. The irony is that the library actually had the funds already in the bank to build the addition, but a newly enacted Idaho state law required that all additions had to be paid for with bonds. As Tate-Pettinger says, "By forcing the bond election the property owner's taxes were raised unnecessarily."

Director Regina Mascia of West Hempstead Public Library, NY, learned from an earlier defeat in 2001 to go on to victory for a new library in June 2003. Hers was a classically organized campaign the second time around, sporting lawn signs, posters, flyers, four-color brochures, library open houses, a walkathon, and phone calls to softball teams.

The impact of a good campaign can't be ignored, as evidenced by the Portland Library District, MI, campaign for a new building to replace its 1905 Carnegie Library. With a service area population of slightly over 12,000, library supporters crafted a careful, solid campaign that resulted in a 71 percent support vote for a new building. Director Janice Mosser thinks the campaign worked owing to several factors. They noted the key element—public education—involved many people in the district and sought endorsements from a broad range of community groups. Significantly, they also reflected the difficult economic climate by keeping the bonding amount under one mill.

Not all libraries won the second time around. Voters in Sayville, NY, rejected bonds for a new library in both 2002 and 2003, even though the project was downsized for the second run. Cheboygan, MI, had the same sad result when voters considered a new central library a second time.

The larger the amount requested, the less likely voters were to open their pockets. Only two-thirds of all referenda over $10 million were approved. The largest approved was $55.5 million in Dallas for renovations to the Central Library and to build new branches. Unfortunately, the Las Vegas–Clark County Library District, NV, LJ's Library of the Year for 2003, was not as fortunate with its $50.6 million referendum for new branches, going down to defeat by 63 percent even with an $80,000 campaign. A $90,000 campaign didn't help the Pikes Peak Library District in Colorado Springs, either, with only 42 percent of the voters supporting its bid for $20.1 million for six new branches. In California, Burbank accomplished the superheroic supermajority needed with a vote of 67.9 percent for matching funds for a state grant for a new main library but then was unsuccessful in obtaining the grant; the library will try again in 2004 in the very competitive state grant process. Other major successful referenda included $24.5 million for three new branches for the Live Oak Public Library in Savannah, GA; a new central library and branch upgrades worth $26.9 million in Laramie County, WY; and $16.2 million for new libraries in Chapel Hill, NC.

While below the generally magic $10 million level, a $7.27 million referendum for a new central library, new branches, and site acquisition was rejected by voters in Alaska's largest city, Anchorage, followed shortly thereafter by severe budget cuts and restructuring in the Anchorage Public Library. The Salt Lake City Library suffered a defeat when voters rejected a request for $5 million for two new branches. In San Antonio, however, voters approved just under $4 million for new branches and a renovation study of the Herzberg Circus Library and Museum.

Libraries often get embroiled in unrelated controversies when seeking money. In Peachtree City, GA, a razor-thin 50.8 percent of the voters approved funds to acquire the site for a new library. Many voters were disaffected by a 17.4 percent property tax hike for 2004, and a public spat between a council member and the mayor about a local tennis center threatened to derail more than the Peachtree library project. Sometimes "loading the Christmas tree" also pushes voters away, as with the referendum for the Cushing Public Library, OK. Voters rejected a request to raise the sales tax to nine percent in the small town to fund not only the library renovation but also a new sports complex and a new fire/police facility. Conventional campaign wisdom frequently says to build a ballot with something for everyone and put the library out front since "everyone loves the library," but the result sometimes ends up badly for all.

"Win some, lose some" was the theme of two library operating referenda in which voters said yes and the elected officials said no. In Concord, MA, the library operating funds barely approved by the voters in an override vote were subsequently lost by the adjustment of the town budget at a special town meeting. Henry David Thoreau, one of Concord's leading citizens, might even have been moved to his cherished civil disobedience by such action. In Ottumwa, IA, the city council is mulling over the idea of taking half of a newly voter-approved library levy for the city's general operating budget. "The public who voted for this levy for the library feel they have been 'duped,'" says Director Mary Ann Lemon, noting that the levy passed in spite of the fact that "the town is working class and never votes to increase taxes."

Ohio was mixed territory this year, with three libraries losing levy campaigns and only seven succeeding. The major loss was for the Akron-Summit County Public Library in November, with 52 percent of the voters voting against an $11.2 million levy that represented 25 percent of the annual operating budget. The last time the library lost an election was 1961; the library administration and board were stunned. Nearby, voters in Cleveland approved the largest operating levy in the nation for $31 million, representing 54 percent of the annual Cleveland Public Library budget. Voters in Toledo-Lucas County approved a $7.8 million levy, and voters in Mansfield-Richland County approved a $3.6 million levy.

Colorado proved rough sledding, with losses in Basalt, Grand Junction, and Pikes Peak for operating levies. The Mesa County Public Library District in Grand Junction actually passed the operating levy at 50.5 percent, but the library could not collect it as the companion building referendum failed. In Basalt, heavy opposition surfaced two weeks before the election, with a group organizing and spending $28,000 to defeat the measure, compared with $8000 spent by supporters. In Colorado Springs (Pikes Peak), a concerted opposition campaign spearheaded by a local antitax advocate included broadcast and editorial elements and the threat of legal recourse. On the bright side, libraries in Boulder and Arapahoe County both got operating levies passed. Arapahoe County Public Library, just south of Denver, mounted a major professional campaign, featuring a web site donated and set up by the president of the library Board of Trustees. The enduring image of the campaign for this November ballot was the library staffer who donned his Santa Claus suit and stood at a busy intersection one Saturday morning urging people to vote "YES."

"If at first you don't succeed" was the motto for several library operating levies. Two trips to voters in one year spelled success for the Tecumseh District Library, MI, and Sno-Isle Regional Library System, WA. The Tecumseh District Library became a district library in December 2002 and attempted unsuccessfully to pass its first mill levy in May 2003. Sno-Isle fought a hard-won battle against inflation with a campaign to restore its levy to the state-legislated maximum for one year, but Mary Kelly, Sno-Isle's community relations officer, noted that "the levy rate will begin falling again as inflation outpaces the one percent maximum increase."

Rapides Parish Library, LA, returned to the ballot successfully after a 2002 defeat, and the Wayne County Public Library, OH, finally succeeded in November after two earlier failures. Rapides Parish made a strategic decision to go for a straight renewal of the current mill rate rather than risk asking for an increase at the rate that failed at the polls in 2002. Director Sue Lee acknowledges "that it meant that the problems that we had hoped to address with the increases would still exist and would go unaddressed for now."

In West Virginia, voters supported their libraries statewide, albeit at small dollar amounts. In Kingwood, heavy snow on Election Day February 15, 2003 contributed to a very small turnout, 124 voters out of the 1,883 registered. However, library stalwarts were undeterred by the weather, and 117 of them insured success at the polls for the Kingwood Public Library.

Waiting to get on the ballot didn't help libraries in 2003. For those operating referenda from December 2002 through May 2003, only ten percent failed. Coming into the summer months of June through August, 18 percent of bids failed. By the end of the year, September through November, 22 percent of all measures failed. Perhaps the combination of the lingering fiscal malaise as well as the war in Iraq served to sap voter confidence. In California, the term tossed around after the gubernatorial election in October was voter fatigue, and, as happens too often, what started in the land of fruit and nuts looks like it spread eastward.

Overall, however, Americans continued to support their libraries, in spite of national issues often overshadowing local politics. As all library staff and advocates will attest, voter confidence placed in libraries is returned a hundredfold with renewed and enhanced library services and facilities.