Library Referenda 2004: The Good Fight

Dueling libraries in Rhode Island, big wins for big cities, erosion of voter support for libraries in the Illinois heartland matched with the emergence of library support in the Southwest and the reupping of big California taxes. These were some of the stories and trends that emerged from library referenda in 2004.

The year brought tougher times at the polls for America's libraries, with approval rates dropping. The 69% approval rate for referenda for public library buildings was at a low level not seen since the difficult year of 2002, when it was only 60%, slipping from the passage rate of 76% in 2003. The last time it dipped into the 60s was 1988. Operating referenda fared slightly better, with a 70% pass rate, similar to those seen in 2003 and 2002, but still significantly lower than the 83% passage rate in 1998. The last time we saw a pass rate in the 70s was in 1995. So what's happening? Are libraries still sure bets with communities at the polls? The answer lies in a complex set of variables, including geography, competition, and timing.

There were 49 building referenda in 2004, representing a total of $556,215,000. The median Yes vote was 58%, with those winning referenda coming in at a median 65% Yes vote. A slight majority of the referenda were in general elections but with essentially the same passage rate of 69%, compared with special elections at 68%. Ballot competition didn't seem to be a problem for building referenda: 73% of referenda with competing items on the ballot passed. Those jurisdictions that waited until later in the year did the best, with referenda placed on the ballot in the last four months of the year having a passage rate of 83%. Smaller is better, with a passage rate of 77% for referenda under $10 million vs. 50% for those over $10 million. Half the states had building referenda on the ballot, a significant increase over prior years.

Asking voters to support library operations showed a bit more success. In the 66 library operating referenda, special elections had a significantly higher success rate of 81%. Having other items on the ballot helped referenda, with 69% passing vs. 52% when the library item was solo. Summer voters smiled on libraries with a 95% passage rate, with voters in the beginning of the year only smiling 61% of the time and voters at the end of the year only saying Yes to 58%. The median Yes vote for all measures was 60%, with a higher Yes vote of 64% for winning measures. A total of $122.6 million was put before voters for approval, and 87% of that sum, or nearly $106.5 million, found it. Eighteen states had operating referenda on the ballot, led by the traditional hotbeds of electoral library politics: Michigan with 14, Illinois with 13, and California with nine.

Some unique stories emerged from this year's referenda, offering up potential cautionary tales. Several libraries had companion capital and operating measures. The Charlevoix Public Library, MI, was successful, with voters supporting both a new building and enhanced operating funding. In Illinois, Lombard, Carol Stream, and Sugar Grove saw a different result; both measures failed in Lombard and Carol Stream. The voters in Sugar Grove were willing to pay for a new library but not for more operations. Institutions mentioned the potential for voter confusion or fatigue, with multiple measures a possible contributing factor to the failures.

How libraries told their stories to voters had an influence. The Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock and the Prospect Heights Public Library District, IL, waged two classic, yet very different, campaigns. In Arkansas a high-profile community leadership group, the Coalition for Neighborhood Libraries, worked on the special election that would have provided funds for new books, AV and library materials, technology, a fifth floor addition to the main library, a Center for Arkansas History and Genealogy section at the local university, and acreage for more branches. Clearly this proposal was designed to appeal to a broad range of voters. The library engaged in a strong informational campaign, sending postcards and emails to cardholders, paralleling the efforts of the campaign committee. The committee employed the traditional broad range of support vehicles, including mailings, phone banks, public meetings, and media support, combined with newer methods such as email alerts to supporters. The result? A passage rate of 88%. The opening of the newest Presidential Library in Little Rock this year may have helped.

Prospect Heights, a community of 15,000, had seen a gradual erosion in the library's ability to levy sufficient taxes as the increases in operating expenses outstripped its flat tax rate. The library had projected in 1992 that its then approved tax rate would provide sufficient funding for services for ten years; in actuality, it had stretched those funds for 12 years. However, in the past year, funds had shrunk, and services had begun to be scaled down. A community "Restore the Revenue" committee emerged to lead the effort for increasing the tax rate. Simple print materials for voters were developed, carrying easy-to-understand messages, including "Services by Friendly Staff" and the answer to the question, "What's in it for me? I don't use the Library!" with a chatty "Sorry to hear that! However, even if you don't use the library, the presence of the library enhances the value of your property." The library newsletter carried a series of articles about the budget problems and the tax measure, headlined by the article in the August newsletter entitled "Library Plans Budget Cuts." It wasn't difficult to get the message. In a year when only three out of 13 operating referenda passed in Illinois, Prospect Heights voters supported their library with a solid 55% Yes vote.

A notable new trend that surfaced for the first time this year is the use of web sites to reinforce campaigns. In Georgetown, TX, a community of 45,000, the campaign group created a web site, www.yeslibrary.org, which advocated for the successful bond measure for a new library, and has been transformed into a fundraising site to raise $400,000 for furnishings. A web site was also deployed in the campaign for Sugar Grove (www.libraryvoteyes.org).

California did not have any building referenda on the ballot in 2004, but it did see several major libraries at the polls looking for operational support. Seven of nine libraries, including the facilities in San Jose, Sacramento,and Fresno, were successful in renewing funding sources. In the case of San Jose and Sacramento, the funding was changed from assessments, which only required a 50% vote, to special taxes requiring the higher threshold of two-thirds voter approval. When both measures were initially passed in 1996, libraries were able to use assessment financing. Unfortunately, that same ballot allowed for the passage of Proposition 218, which outlawed that type of financing for libraries.

Santa Clara County Library District (SCCLD) failed in its attempt to renew its funding source, another turnaround from an assessment to a special tax. Service reductions have already begun. According to Melinda Cervantes, SCCLD county librarian, the library will be going back to the voters in May 2005 with a mail ballot for two measures, one at the same dollar amount as the prior assessment, and a second that increases the tax by $12. In order for the second, higher tax to pass, the tax at the renewal amount would also have to pass.

A mail ballot will be a new option for Santa Clara (it will be the first time such a mechanism is used in the state for a library tax measure), and Cervantes says that the library believes it will have a better chance to pass the measures, as mail ballots generally have higher voter participation, and a targeted campaign can be mounted. She notes that the Fresno County Library and the Coalinga- Huron Library District were successful in renewing their 1/8¢ sales tax, which represents significant portions of their operating budgets.

A third try for a citywide measure by the Richmond Public Library, CA, finally succeeded with voters. One notable win was the renewal of the Stanislaus County Library, CA, 1/8¢ sales tax for the third time. In 1996 Stanislaus County pioneered the use of sales tax for library funding by getting the state legislature to pass special legislation enabling it to place a 1/8¢ sales tax successfully before the voters.

A true hotbed of library support this past year was the state of Texas, where all three operating referenda passed, as did all five building referenda. Voters in Lake Travis, near Austin, approved the establishment of a library district with a 1/4¢ sales tax to support an existing community that had operated for 20 years without any direct tax revenues. Lubbock, as well as Rockland County Public Library, will get new central facilities, thanks to successful bond measures.

Elections weren't the only way to win. The Pulaski County Public Library, KY, used a petition drive to increase its library tax by 3¢ per $100 assessed value. Under Kentucky law a library taxing district that wishes to increase its tax rate for any purpose must use the same method that was used to establish the district. The district had been established by a petition by registered voters, so between April and June 2004 more than 12,000 signatures were obtained, and the petition succeeded. Even though voters didn't have to go to the polls, a classic campaign was waged through radio advertising, billboards, yard signs, and direct mailings. The reward will be a new library for the residents of Pulaski County.

Perhaps the strangest story to emerge from this year's voting comes from the dueling libraries of Smithfield, RI. The bond measure to build a new Greenville Public Library in the Town of Smithfield failed, in a campaign guaranteed to confuse even savvy voters. The Greenville Public Library and the East Smithfield Public Library in Smithfield are both privately funded. The two boards were unable to agree on a joint project, and opposition reared its head from the East Smithfield group against a new building for the Greenville library. The real losers are the folks of Smithfield, who missed an opportunity for a new library facility.

The actions of elected officials sometimes take surprising turns with library referenda. In Grand County, UT, some council members were quoted as stating that "only deadbeats use the library," even though as a group the council voted unanimously in support of authorizing the election. The council members' opinions didn't seem to stymie the electorate—deadbeats or not—as the bond measure won handily with 71% support. Haysville, KS, saw an opportunity to take over the existing library space for city offices and put a referenda before voters to build a new library. However, ten days before the election, the mayor sent a letter to all property owners asking how they wanted to pay for street repairs. Needless to say, the residents of Haysville, staring the specter of potholes in the eye, didn't see their way clear to supporting a new library building. The city didn't get its new offices either.

Perspicacity can pay off for library supporters in going to the polls multiple times. In Georgetown, MA, it took three tries to get voters to support a bond for a new library, after failing in 2001 and 2003. Similarly, the third time was the charm for Rio Rancho, NM, and Cheboygan, MI. Chelsea, MI, took home the brass ring—and funding for a new library—the second time around, after an earlier 1999 measure failed even though a companion operating measure passed at that time. Cushing, OK, learned from its first defeat when there were four other projects on the ballot and voters had to vote them all up or down as one. This time around, the library measure won handily on its own. But it doesn't always work that way, as the New London PL, CT, town budget, including funding for the library, failed for the second year in a row.

Major urban and suburban libraries had some notable wins. The Detroit Public Library renewed its existing millage with a 76% support rate and increased it with another measure with a 63% support rate, extending the life of both measures for ten years, from a previous five-year life span. The two revenue sources represent 80% of the funding base for the library.

The King County Library System, in the suburban Seattle area, was successful with its bond campaign for $172 million, although it had failed the first time out in February 2003. Bill Ptacek, director of the King County system, says that the library took the earlier voter turndown very seriously and this time out didn't assume the historic level of voter support that the library had received in the past. Ptacek believes the difference the second time out was owing to two factors: a clear and direct information campaign to the voters, answering their questions as to why the bond was needed, what it would do and what the cost would be, and stressing the value of the library system to the community. The measure required 60% to pass, and it received 63.57% of the vote, over 10% more than the earlier failed measure.

The Fairfax County Public Library, VA, passed a $52.5 million bond measure that will build and renovate its branch libraries. The Gwinnett County Public Library, GA, was part of a successful countywide Special Local Option Sales Tax measure and will receive over $12 million for three projects. The Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System, NM, will be able to enhance its collections with the $1 million it will receive from a successful bond measure. The Stark County District Library, OH, found that the third time around worked when it passed its operating levy, representing 22% of the library's budget, after failing in November 2003 and March 2004.

While America's voters continued to support libraries at high rates, the slight downtick in percentage of referenda passed can reflect the continuing ups and downs in the economy. Nonetheless, elected officials know that libraries are one of the public services most likely to attract voter support, as the willingness for governing boards to put library measures before voters indicates. It's a feel-good opportunity for communities—and elected officials—to support their libraries at the polls, linking investments in kids, education, and reading. Let's hope that the tide turns in the future and an upsurge in voter support comes to pass.