(The Center Square) – Spokane Public Library Director Andrew Chanse warned Thursday that residents will see visible service reductions in 2027 unless local officials increase ongoing support or voters pass a significantly larger levy – his finance director said it could be 328% or more above the current rate.
SPL consists of eight libraries and five 24/7 kiosks, with over 1 million annual visits and 90,000 hours of meeting room time. The last time residents passed a levy for the system was in 2024 at 7 cents per $1,000 assessed property value. It’s due for a renewal next year, and that rate could rise to 30 cents.
The tax currently accounts for 18% of SPL’s $14 million annual budget, with the general fund covering the remaining 82%. Chanse told the Spokane City Council on Thursday that relatively flat general fund support over the last few years has led to an anticipated $2.7 million deficit for the libraries next year.
“This conversation is not about something new; it’s about stewardship, maintaining that baseline level of service the public expects and has already paid to build,” Chanse said during a joint budget meeting with the council. “Our staffing reflects a lean operational model, as you’ll see from our peer libraries.”
He said SPL serves more people than Salt Lake City, which has a library budget of $33 million and 249 full-time employees, compared to just 103 in Spokane. SPL Finance Director Nicole Edwards noted that staffing accounts for over 70% of its budget and that reducing headcount would lead to service cuts.
Chanse said that SPL can’t afford to go another year with relatively flat general fund support because inflation erodes that purchasing power. However, with ongoing citywide budget woes, the general fund doesn’t have much wiggle room, and the council remained skeptical about how much it could provide.
“If we do not see an increase for 2027, you are going to see service reductions,” Chanse said. “There will be staff layoffs, likely, you’ll have fewer programs for the community. We’ll have less technology replacements for the public. We could continue to have deferred maintenance risks in facilities that we just invested in, which doesn’t make sense, [and] reduced reserve protection for our own balance.”
He said there are three options: a levy lid lift, the creation of a municipal library district, or amending the city charter to include a funding formula like Spokane uses for Parks & Recreation. A levy lid is the only realistic option within the next year, as the other two could require changes to state and local law.
Edwards said that if voters increased the levy rate from 7 cents to 30 cents, the portion of the budget funded by the tax would rise from 18% to 35%. Chanse wants to put together a plan by this summer to put the proposal on the April 2027 ballot, hoping to avoid the holidays and competing school levies.
“What we’re looking at for 2028 and onward is, clearly, we’re going to need to increase our levy ask,” Edwards said. “Likely 30 cents, probably more, we’re currently at 7. We won’t know what that looks like until we kind of see where things go and what the community asks for in continued service.”
While the rate is subject to change, a 30-cent levy would represent a 328% increase from the current rate. For a $400,000 home, that means going from paying $28 annually for SPL to $120, a $92 annual increase, in addition to other property taxes from the city, Spokane County and local school districts.
If the levy rate were to hit 37 cents, a 30-cent increase on the current rate, it would represent a nearly 430% tax hike. For a $400,000 home, that could amount to paying $148 annually for the SPL levy.
The library officials said if the levy fails in April 2027, they could run another in August or November.
“We’ll need to see kind of what we’re looking at for general fund before we land on a target,” Chanse said.
