(The Center Square) – The Spokane County Library District has placed a tax hike on the August ballot, despite its reserves having grown almost every year as SCLD’s levy rate falls with rising assessments.
A press release frames the tax hike as necessary for the long-term sustainability of SCLD’s 10 libraries in Spokane County.
The May 5 announcement warned that if rejected, SCLD might introduce new fees, defer maintenance, consider reducing hours and potentially close one or more locations at some point.
Voters approved SCLD’s last levy in 2019, when they increased the property tax rate from 44 cents to 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. As home assessments increased, the levy rate fell to about 33 cents, where it currently remains, so the SCLD Board of Trustees wants to bring the rate back up to 45 cents.
“Property tax revenue is capped at a 1% annual increase,” Communications Director Jane Baker wrote in an email to The Center Square. “Inflation is consistently higher than 1%, and the District has reached an inflection point where that 1% annual increase cannot keep pace with the cost of doing business.”
If approved, SCLD’s levy proposal this August would increase its annual tax revenues by $6.7 million, of which about $1 million annually would be transferred to the district’s capital fund for future projects.
Raising the rate to 45 cents would cost a home valued at $350,000 an additional $42 in annual taxes.
Since voters approved the last levy in 2019, SCLD’s operating budget has increased nearly 25% from $16.25 million in 2020 to $20.29 million in 2026.
Despite the levy rate falling every year, the district’s general operating reserves more than doubled over that period, from about $5 million to $10.5 million.
After accounting for SCLD’s capital reserves, the district started this year with $15.3 million in cash.
Baker says SCLD receives property tax revenue twice a year, so its reserves aren’t a “static amount.”
The district has spent a portion of those general fund reserves over the last few months, leaving a general fund balance of $7.5 million as of March 31, 2026, which will stabilize over the coming months.
“The 2026 adopted budget has a planned reduction of the general fund balance,” Baker wrote Tuesday, referring to SCLD’s plans to end this year after filling an $763,000 shortfall with general fund reserves.
The 2026 adopted budget also plans to draw down SCLD capital reserves by $2.1 million by year-end.
However, SCLD has underspent its operating budget every year since the voters passed the 2019 levy.
The 2025 adopted budget projected a $142,000 operational deficit, but SCLD wound up with a $1.4 million surplus. That budget also included plans to draw down SCLD’s capital reserves by $1.4 million, but the district ended 2025 with $1.7 million more in its capital fund balance than it initially budgeted.
According to a SCLD presentation from January, the district intends to use the August levy revenue, if approved by residents, to “increase operating and capital reserves for future needs and opportunities.”
Still, the district’s capital needs aren’t unfounded; a facility condition assessment from February shows $8.7 million in deferred maintenance through 2031, with its portfolio condition rated as “fair to good.”
Tackling that deferred maintenance over the next five years will cost SCLD roughly $2 million annually.
The facilities rated among the worst condition include the Fairfield, Medical Lake and Argonne libraries.
Despite these capital needs and SCLD’s recent warning in its press release about potentially charging new fees and reducing access, the board chose not to propose a levy at the statutory limit of 50 cents.
“While the current levy rate has fallen to its lowest amount we’ve seen in the past 25 years,” Executive Director Patrick Roewe wrote in the release, “… the full statutory rate is not necessary at this time.”
The district served more than 681,000 visitors last year who checked out 2.2 million items.
