LYNNWOOD – The library in this city is so heavily used that officials are talking about a new, larger building – and new taxes to pay for it.
A new library would require a ballot measure possibly for much of south Snohomish County as well as for Lynnwood, library officials say.
It also could require Lynnwood property owners to pay taxes directly to the Sno-Isle Library District to operate the library.
Lynnwood city officials are considering asking voters this November to pay the operations tax to Sno-Isle. City Council members will discuss it at a work session Monday and could decide as soon as May 22, City Council president Loren Simmonds said.
Residents currently pay for library service indirectly through the city. Last year, the city of Lynnwood paid $1.1 million to Sno-Isle, while it cost the district $3.5 million to run the library at 19200 44th Ave. W.
If the city wants Sno-Isle to run a bigger library, the district will need more money, said Jonalyn Woolf-Ivory, director of the Sno-Isle system.
“We would really need to be sure that Lynnwood is contributing the same amount as its neighbors in Edmonds or Mountlake Terrace,” Woolf-Ivory said.
Residents in those cities, along with 10 other cities in the Sno-Isle district in Snohomish and Island counties, pay the direct tax. Six cities, including Lynnwood, pay through a contract fee.
The tax costs roughly $84 per year for the owner of a $200,000 home, Sno-Isle spokeswoman Mary Kelly said.
Last year, the Lynnwood Library was visited 544,743 times, Woolf-Ivory said. The next highest figure in Sno-Isle’s system of 20 libraries was Marysville at 359,016.
Lynnwood’s library, expanded twice in the past 10 years, is only slightly larger than Marysville’s, at 26,000 square feet compared to 23,000.
To meet expected demand in Lynnwood, a library of 40,000 to 60,000 square feet would be needed, Woolf-Ivory said. No cost figures for such a building have been developed.
Lynnwood’s use is generated by its convenient location and its collection of books and computers, the largest in the system, Woolf-Ivory said.
About 60 percent of the visitors to the library come from outside the city.
Richard Purpur is one of them. The retired Edmonds resident visits the Lynnwood Library about twice a week. It’s closer to his home, he said, than the Edmonds Library.
“The library actually serves as a regional library,” Simmonds said.
The number of out-of-city residents is why officials would ask voters beyond Lynnwood for money for a new building. How far beyond Lynnwood hasn’t been determined.
The city and Sno-Isle would first ask voters to approve a special district, and if it’s approved, float a measure for the building, Woolf-Ivory said.
The planned City Center area near I-5, where the city hopes to foster a mid-rise downtown, has been mentioned by city officials as a possible location for a new library.
If voters veto any of the taxes, there will still be library service, city and library officials said. Another option would be for the city to pay more through its contact.
“We won’t continue as we are,” Simmonds said.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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