August 12, 2004

Ten more years

Parcel tax vital to San Jose libraries

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

In an effort to keep San Jose libraries open and offset books and materials expenses, the City Council voted last week to place a measure on the November ballot that would extend a 10-year, $25 parcel tax due to expire on Dec. 31.

Because of the existing assessment—a continuation of Measure E—the San Jose Library System has shown healthy growth over the years, and now boasts the award-winning Martin Luther King, Jr. main library, 18 existing branches, and six more in the works.

According to Martin Luther King, Jr. Library co-manager Jane Light, an estimated 70 percent of annual library purchases—including books, magazine subscriptions, movies, and CDs—are paid with the roughly $6.2 million raised each year through the current tax, with an estimated $3 million used to pay for equipment and staff salaries. Without it, branches would be forced to reduce hours, cut staff, curtail spending, and thin out existing stock to fill the shelves of the new Tully Library when it opens next year.

In 1994, voters overwhelmingly approved the “Benefit Assessment District Tax,” a 10-year, $25 per parcel levy to improve library funding. The current measure will ask voters to approve the same amount for another 10 years—adjusted for inflation, with a three percent annual cap. It will require a super majority [two-thirds] to pass, but is expected to, especially in light of the easy passage in 2000 of a $212 million bond to construct six new branches and refurbish existing ones.

Light says she hopes taxpayers will again support the system financially in November.

According to Realtor and Library Oversight Committee member Paul Stewart, the original parcel tax passed 10 years ago is the only one that the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors has ever supported and he looks to the new measure as a continuing contribution to the future of the library system.

“I don’t see any reason to change now,” he says.

While most approve of the measure, some feel that the city could be more frugal with their own expenses and steer library generated funds back onto the shelves.

According to Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association president Denis Umphress, an alarming $2.6 million in fines for overdue materials over the past three years did not stay with the library fund, but instead went back into the city’s General Fund. The 2001-02 fiscal year reported $807,000 in collected fines, while figures rose to $841,000 in 2002-03, and more than $974,000 in 2003-04—necessary dollars that he suggests should be kept within the library system.

“In many ways, I believe this is a question of priorities,” he says. “The city’s General Fund could cover some of these library costs that would be paid by this new tax instead of using it for furniture for the new City Hall.”

“When times are tight like they are now,” he adds, “We need to look for alternatives.”