Letters to the Editor
Support King County library levy
When you vote "Yes" for your share of the property tax that provides the maintenance and operations of the King County Library System (KCLS), you are supporting the information and technological tools needed by everyone to support our democratic society.
Our libraries are at the heart of our communities. They are treasures to be enhanced and protected.
Proposition 1, which asks us to restore the KCLS property tax levy rate to 50 cents per $1000 of assessed value for collection in 2011, should have arrived in your mailbox, along with the "Local Voters' Pamphlet." It does require that you mail in your ballot so that it is postmarked on or before Feb. 9. (There are no ballot drop boxes in our immediate community.)
The cost to the homeowner of a hypothetical $400,000 home is about $32 per year.
As current president of the White Center Library Guild, I am witness to the great volume and services offered in that library. Every month, between 8,000 and 10,000 people walk in the door to use this library.
They are students, parents, children, teachers, community groups, and people who just want a "good read." This highly used library provides a meeting place for community groups and has outreach to low-income day care and elderly facilities.
There will be those who say, "Why now, in our deep recession should we vote for this tax?" For those who want to search for a job; for those who want information on how to keep their families healthy; for those wanting to obtain citizenship; for those who want to know how to raise a garden or chickens or make a quilt; for those who want to view a film or listen to some music or read the newspaper; for the student who is required to present their project in typed form...if these were the only ones who used the libraries, wouldn't it be enough for your support?
Here's to the great libraries we have in our community; the new Burien Library, the White Center Library, the Boulevard Park Library, the Greenbridge Library.
These are all part of the King County Library System, one of the finest systems in the United States. Let's keep it that way.
Rachael Levine
White Center
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Vote No
The King County libray system has sqaundered millions of our tax dollars. Does anyone remember the the 20 million dollar computer system that had to be scrapped because it didn't work about a decade ago?
How about the million dollar ad compaign for new pretty library cards that do nothing more than the old ones?
When the library system maintains current books and uses our tax dollars wisely, frugally, and stops placing automatic tax increases in the Proposition maybe they can have more of my tax dollars (note the proposition states EVERY year thereafter).
We have all had to tighten our belts and live within our means. So should the King County Library System.
The government employment roles keep growing with little or no growth in services to tax payers. When push comes to shove, vital services are cut (and hours of operation) but never the adminstarive staff who sit in meetings all day. This is just another example of voting ourselves into debt. Nickel and diming us to death seems to be the order of the day for any sector of our government. How much did this Special Election cost and why wasn't it on the ballot in November?
Vote no.
Get the Facts
The prior guest is misinformed. The King County Library System is NOT part of King County government, and as such, had absolutely nothing to do with the 20 million dollar computer fiasco.
The library card campaign that the writer also refers to was NOT a million dollar campaign. Each year the library system has to buy library cards and in this instance, the campaign was funded by its Foundation, not taxpayers.
Read the Seattle Times editorial which very clearly describes how KCLS has tightened its belt over the past 8 years. During that time period use has grown 43%, library space has grown through the building program, (i.e. the new Burien Library, the Federal Way library about to open, the expanded Covington Library, the remodeled and improved Kent Library about to reopen, just to name a few), and through out this staff levels have remained the same and patrons have continued to receive the same outstanding service.
Finally, there are more than a dozen measures on the Feb. ballot, and all share the cost of the election. In addition, King County elections (again NOT connected to KCLS invested heavily in new capital equipment to resolve the issues that had plagued prior elections - so those costs are now spread across all elections throughout the year. End result: it doesn't cost KCLS any more to be on in Feburary than it does any other time.
How Can Anyone Vote Against Libraries?
Oh, yeah - they're the same guys that vote for every Eyman initiative that comes along, and votes to gut services then blames the government for the inability to provide the roads, schools, parks and services that they want! Put down the teabag and repeat after me: Services Cost Money. And before you sieze on that Eyman meme about waste in the budget, cite specifics (he couldn't) - fact is, you've probably never looked at a federal, state or local budget, your just repeating someone else's talking points.
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