A proposal to pay for a new library for the Stanwood-Camano area was too close to call Tuesday night, while voters in Mill Creek appeared to have approved a new tax to pay for its existing library.
Stanwood- Camano Island
The library measure required voters to first approve creation of a new taxing district.
Voters in Stanwood and Camano Island appeared to be approving the new library district, but the vote to pay for the new library building was too close to call in early returns.
Hanging in the balance was a 20-year, $9 million construction bond to pay for a new 20,000-square-foot library in Stanwood.
The bond would cost the owner of a $200,000 home about $35 a year starting in 2006.
Plans for the new Stanwood Library would almost quadruple its size, allowing for a bigger book collection. Plans also include four new rooms (including one for kids and one for seniors) and adding 18 more computers.
If it passes, construction could begin as early as 2005.
The new library district will mirror the Stanwood-Camano School District’s boundaries.
Mill Creek
Voters in Mill Creek were approving by a wide margin a new tax that would finance the Mill Creek Library, relieving the city of paying for it out of its general fund.
City officials said that unless the tax passes, they couldn’t continue to pay the Sno-Isle Regional Library System $530,000 a year to operate the library.
Opponents said the city would have time to find other options, noting that the current funding would keep the library open through the end of 2005.
Property owners would pay 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, or about $150 a year for the owner of a $300,000 home.
That would equal the tax that property owners in unincorporated Snohomish and Island counties and those in 12 other cities pay to the library system.
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