The wind was gusting outside the South Valleys Library on a recent afternoon, but inside, the air was calm. Cheerful “hellos” echoed in the otherwise quiet space as library staff greeted patrons.
A mother, carrying an infant and holding the hand of her toddler, made her way toward the children’s section while a masked woman turned toward a shelf displaying new authors and titles. In a well-lit workspace near the magazines, several people typed away on laptops; an elderly man flipped through print copies of newspapers.
The comfortable scene unfolds daily in a similar fashion across many of Washoe County’s 11 library branches. But that tranquility for library patrons and employees could be at risk following a vote by Washoe County voters that eliminates a key funding source for the library system, potentially reducing its budget by millions of dollars per year.
Voters failed to approve a funding mechanism that would have allocated money collected by the county to the library system for 30 more years — an outcome that observers say could be linked to confusion over the question’s wording and aversion to taxes. The library system relies on the funds — roughly $4.5 million per year — for everything from purchasing new books to paying staff and providing internet services.
With the failure of the ballot question, the county will continue to collect those funds from Washoe County taxpayers — taxes will not be lowered for residents. And commissioners could still opt to direct funding toward the libraries — or they could reroute the funds to another department entirely.
“We don’t assume the commissioners will give us the funding for it. Voters said commissioners should determine the budget,” Library Director Jeff Scott said. “Right now, we’re just planning for the cuts.”
The Nevada Independent reached out to the county’s five commissioners for insight into the ballot measure.
Jeanne Herman, who represents District 5, said she hasn’t given it much thought yet, while Alexis Hill, chair of the board, said she doesn’t want to see a reduction in services.
Having libraries open at night and on weekends is “an essential service,” she said.
“I have been a strong supporter of libraries and I see their role in helping all constituents in this county,” Hill said. “I think there was some confusion on the ballot initiative.”
Since the measure passed, some voters have realized their “no” votes were made erroneously and asked library staff what they can do. Another Washoe County library user has started an online petition encouraging county commissioners to continue to fund the library system at the same level — thousands of county residents have signed it thus far.
“When people come in and realize they had voted ‘no’ and what that could mean for the library, they are upset. Not every single person, but anecdotally, we’ve heard from a lot of patrons who did not realize what they were voting against,” said Jennifer Cole, librarian at South Valleys Library.
Understanding the ballot question
Each year, Washoe County commissioners allocate about $12.5 million to the library system, with about 90 percent of those funds paying for staff. The rest of the library system’s funding comes from money generated through a tax “override” that has been in place since 1994.
The override mechanism that was approved by Washoe County voters 30 years ago redirects funds the county already collects from taxpayers, which would otherwise be funneled into the county’s coffers, toward a specific target — in this case, Washoe County libraries, thus bypassing, or “overriding,” approval by county commissioners.
Two cents of every $100 of assessed valuation is redirected to the county’s libraries, generating roughly an additional $4.5 million each year. That additional money funds 23 staff positions and almost the entirety of the system’s $1.4 million book budget and $400,000 technology budget.
Funding from the override has been used for construction of the Northwest Reno, South Valleys, Incline Village and Spanish Springs libraries, as well as renovations to branches in Sparks and downtown Reno.
But the override — narrowly approved in 1994 — sunsets in June.
Washoe County Ballot Question 1 asked voters whether to renew the measure, but voters had to study the question to understand it was not proposing a new tax, but rather extending one that already existed.
Library staff could not campaign for the initiative, but the system did run a voter education campaign explaining how the tax has supported libraries over the past 30 years. Freedom to Read Nevada, a political action committee, also supported the renewal.
Hill, the county commissioner, said there was a missed opportunity for library supporters before the election.
“You have to campaign for months and months before an election,” she said. “There was not a long enough campaign on what that initiative was.”
There was no organized effort against the measure, said Bruce Parks, chair of the Washoe County Republican Party and a member of the committee that drafted language against the ballot measure, only word-of-mouth efforts encouraging proper accounting of taxpayer dollars.
When voters checked “no” next to Ballot Question 1 — as more than 51 percent did — they were voting to end an earmark toward the expansion fund.
Going forward, the county will continue to collect the two cents per $100 of assessed valuation from taxpayers, but commissioners can direct that money elsewhere.
If the question had passed, the library system was planning to renovate South Valleys and Spanish Springs libraries, build a new North Valleys library and expand its Bookmobile and book vending machine services in the North Valleys, Spanish Springs and South Valleys areas.
Instead, the Washoe County Library System is facing potential large-scale staffing cuts, and a near-zero book and technology budget. Up to 30 of the system’s 130 employees could be laid off, Scott said — more than are currently funded with the tax override money in an attempt to offset the gutting of the book budget.
Some of the smaller branches are already so lightly staffed that the only option to cut costs would be to reduce hours such as evenings and weekends, Scott said.
“We’re still crunching the numbers,” he said. “We’re trying to avoid closing branches at this point, so we’re mostly looking at hours.”
The funds generated through the tax override have helped renovate library branches. Often, donors will step in to help pay for the “cool” parts of a renovation, Scott said, such as the furniture. But the “boring” parts of the renovation — new carpet or paint — often aren’t included in donations, and the tax revenue helps offset those costs.
In 2016, for example, the library system received a roughly $900,000 donation, with the stipulation that the money be spent within five years. In 2018, the downtown library was renovated; in 2022, Sparks and Northwest Reno received updates.
“These facilities don’t get a lot of attention. Libraries are often lower rung,” Scott said. “No one’s going to say, ‘less cops, less firemen.’ It kind of makes it hard to get funding until things are falling around our ears.”
Nevadans have a long history of supporting fewer taxes and lower costs of living.
There is no state income tax, and Nevada has some of the lowest property taxes in the nation.
In November, voters shot down tax increases across Northern and Southern Nevada.
Carson City residents didn’t approve of two attempts by the city to raise funds for critical road repairs, while in Henderson, voters overwhelmingly rejected property tax increases to update the fire department and fund the city’s libraries.
“We heard loud and clear this election cycle [that] people wanted a change and felt priced out,” said Hill, the county commissioner.
And while many Nevadans don’t want higher taxes, many do want to utilize their local library, at least in Northern Nevada. Roughly 60 percent of Washoe County residents — 263,000 — hold library cards, according to Scott.
“The thing that’s hard about this, that’s really a gut punch, is we did a poll on this in June … and we had 68 percent [of those polled] support it,” he said. “It seemed almost a guarantee it would pass.”
But as voters lined up at libraries across the county on Nov. 5, one out of every two people standing in line voted against funding the very building they were standing in, he pointed out.
It’s not the first time the libraries have seen substantial cuts. Between 2009 and 2011, about 40 percent of the library system’s budget was slashed following the recession of 2008, with the county going as far as doing a feasibility study of what it would look like to close the libraries, Scott said.
Going forward, the potential loss of $4.5 million annually feels like a step back in time, he added.
“Hopefully this is all just catastrophizing at this point,” Cole said. “We are hopeful they will just go ahead and fund the library at the same level we’ve been funded.”
‘Confusion and regret’
Cole, the South Valleys librarian, has worked for Washoe County libraries for 20 years. She pursued a career as a librarian not just because of a love for literature, but because she enjoys customer service.
“I love books, I love literacy, I love talking about books — that’s my most favorite thing — but that’s such a small, small part of what we do here,” she said. “I really love the work. I love helping people. Every job I’ve ever had has been about customer service. This job allowed me to provide that customer service that I’m good at and feed my passion for literature and knowledge and continuous learning.”
South Valleys Library has the highest circulation of any of the county’s branches, lending roughly 600 books per day.
But it’s not just a location to pick up books. The library, like the others in the county, pulls double duty, serving as a public meeting space, polling place and wildfire evacuation center.
“There are so many ways we contribute to our community. It’s just what we do,” Cole said. “We’re here to serve the public. We’re probably the only county department that is 100 percent customer service driven.”
Now, she and other staff members are being asked to evaluate programs to consider what could be cut. Across the library’s branches, flyers are being put into books waiting for pickup by patrons asking them to let county commissioners know they value library services.
In Northwest Reno, Bradley Leavitt, a longtime Washoe County library patron, has started an online petition to present to county commissioners asking that funding continue to be directed to the libraries.
The petition isn’t meant to overturn the ballot measure, he said, but to show county commissioners there is broad support for the libraries and that residents want to see them funded at the same level they are currently.
The failure of the ballot measure, in part, is due to “misleading wording of the ballot question, which caused many voters to believe this was a new tax or tax increase,” according to the petition. “This misunderstanding likely swayed the outcome, despite the broad support our community has for the library system.”
The question asked voters if the county should “be allowed to levy an ad valorem tax in the amount of up to $0.02 per $100 assessed valuation for a period of 30 years …”
“All over the internet I saw a lot of confusion and regret from voters who misunderstood the ballot measure,” said Leavitt — an avid reader who consumes 50 to 60 books a year, something he says he wouldn’t be able to afford without libraries. “I saw a lot of people who voted ‘no’ didn’t quite understand this wasn’t a new tax.”
Thus far, roughly 5,000 people have signed the petition, and Leavitt and others plan on attending the county’s upcoming commission meeting to show their support for the libraries.
“People online have been calling me a library lobbyist, in a negative sense, but if I’m going to be a lobbyist for anything, I’ll be a library lobbyist,” he said.
Even Ron Aryel, a member of the committee tasked with drafting language for the Washoe County election guide against the measure, was disappointed to see it not pass.
“I voted for WC1. I thought it was a commonsense thing,” he told The Nevada Independent. “I think it’s regrettable it didn’t pass. I think the library is an important service.”
The library system does receive about $100,000 per year from Friends of Washoe County Libraries; other groups also make donations. Since the failure of Question 1, library patrons have been dropping off cash donations at various branches — donations that help, but won’t be able to offset the potential millions of dollars in cuts.
Funding through the existing tax override runs through June 30 of next year. Library officials will present their budget proposal to Washoe County commissioners in January. What happens after that depends on the vote of Washoe County’s five commissioners.
At least one person is confident the county will avoid steep cuts.
“Our library system has always been funded by the county commissioners,” said Parks, the Republican leader. “I’m 100 percent confident our libraries will be properly funded. … Now they’re going to have to account for every penny and they’re going to have to justify that on their budget.”
