Payette City Council Statement

The below was released by the Payette City Council on 2/20/2018.

I'm not confident in how informed their decision to not participate is. This letter was penned by Mayor Jeff Williams, and the City Council voted to endorse it.

• The mayor did not attend any of the public informational meetings.
• Members of the Payette City Council did not attend any of the public informational meetings.
• The Payette (city) Public Library Director did not attend any of the public informational meetings.
• The Payette (city) Public Library staff did not attend any of the public informational meetings.
• Members of the Payette (city) Library Board of Trustees did not attend any of the public informational meetings (when I was on the Board, Mayor Williams made it very clear that I was not allowed to participate in this endeavor - which is why I'm no longer on the Board, but that's another story!)
• The Payette (city) Library Board of Trustees denied my request to present the information to them at one of their board meetings.
• I will address the "financially responsible" comment below.

Yes, that's been thoroughly addressed, as far back as the very first public meeting.

Before I go on, I shall direct your to the vocabulary page, where some of these terms most sane people don't hear everyday might find some guidance :)

The Payette City Library Bond would remain with the City of Payette residents. That is not in dispute, nor is it even a bad thing. Legally, it can't be any other way. The library expansion was necessary, and has turned the Payette Library into a destination for residents and non-residents alike (the City collects over $7,000 in non-resident "library card" purchase fees every year). The residents of the City of Payette voted 80% in favor of this improvement to the library building. I love the improvements and I think that they add significant value to the livability of Payette. There is no reason to think that all of the residents of Payette are going to suddenly decide not to continue paying for it.

If legally obligated, due to the bond, for the City to maintain ownership of the building, I would think that a lease agreement of some sort could be worked out.

Numbers? The building expansion bond is 0.0002232420 of assessed property value. This equates to $22.32 per $100,000 of assessed property value. For my "pretty average" house in Payette, I pay almost $12 per year for this bond obligation (well worth it - voting records indicate that the residents of Payette agree).

The City of Payette currently budgeted the Payette (city) Public Library $299,677. This levy is 0.000896782. This equates to $89.67 per $100,000 of assessed property value. For my house, I pay almost $45 per year for library services. Combining that with the bond obligation of $12, I pay approximately $57 per year total for library services and structure (remember that number).

For the exact same services , a library district's (maximum) levy would be 0.060% (we estimate it will actually work out to a little over half of that, but let's go with the maximum, just for round numbers). This equates to $60 per $100,000 of assessed property value (notice that that's 40% less than the city's legal maximum). For my Payette house, I would pay almost $30 per year. Combining that with the city's bond obligation of $12, I would be paying approximately $42 per year total.

The caveat is this: It's only a possible reduction because the City of Payette never had the residents of Payette vote on a specific, dedicated levy to fund the city library; the city library's budget is wrapped up in the city's "overall" levy which funds all other city services, too. The city library is treated no differently than any other city department, allowing the City Council to adjust budgets and funding as they see fit. If the City Council were to stop funding the library ($299,677 per year) they could legally reallocate all that money to any other city department of their choosing, instead of simply not taxing you that amount to begin with.

At the public, informational meetings (which representatives from the City did not attend) and in the online forums, I have presented a set of simple instructions that allow each resident to determine exactly what their tax responsibility to a library district would be.

Indeed, the Payette (city) Public Library is a shining beacon. Based on the City's customer-service survey conducted a few years ago, the library received the highest marks of any city department. There is no argument that the staff at the library are beyond wonderful.

However, the same services with the same staff could be provided at a levy that is 40% lower than is currently being collected from you by the City of Payette. This proposal isn't about changing anything at the Payette (city) Public Library other than the means by which it is financed and governed. It's about offering library services to the entire county, instead of hording them all within city limits, at a 40% mark-up.

The creation of a library district would solidify the library's ability to continue being a great resource in the future, removed from the politics of city government and funding. Currently, the Library Board must submit their budget for approval to the City Council, which then weighs it against the submitted budgets of every other department in the city. Yes, the library is competing for the same pot of money as the Roads Department, the Police Department, City Hall's copy machine, and the Water department. With a library district, the funding would be secure, directly from the county tax collector, without a 3rd party manipulating the budget to accommodate other departments that must also provide necessary services. In essence, the voters will be saying that they want people dedicated to the library to make budget decisions, instead of a City Council.

It would have been nice if a representative from the City of Payette could have been allowed to attend some of our prior public meetings to present these "other questions" that they have. It is difficult to address concerns when they are never presented. At the meetings, and in the online forums, many concerns have been raised and addressed. It is unfortunate that nobody from the City of Payette was allowed to attend.

I have drawn up several budget variation, for both revenue and expenses. I'm willing to discuss them with anybody that asks.

As it has always been a possibility that individual cities would choose to not participate, the budget numbers were calculated for a variety of scenarios. The City of Payette is only 32.9% of the county's population, and only 16.3% of the assessed property value for the entire county. The remaining 67.1% of the county residents could still easily fund a district with the remaining 87.3% of property value, without the inclusion of Payette residents.

Financially speaking, the City of Payette falls 3rd on the rankings of assessed property value for each demographic. [Unincorporated (46.6%), Fruitland (16.9%), Payette (16.3%), and New Plymouth (3.6%)].

Payette residents would (maybe) continue to have library services provided by the City, but they would be paying a significant amount more than their county counterparts.

Here come some more numbers.

With the entire county participating, and assuming a levy of 0.060% (the maximum) the revenue would be $861,393 per year. This amount is 2.8 times the revenue the City alone collects. And your tax is 40% less, to boot! In essence, the county-wide district could fund almost three libraries comparable to Payette's, and still be within its levy.

Without the participation of the City of Payette, the estimated revenue only drops to $720,569. This is still 2.4 times the revenue the City alone collects, and could provide comparable services for two separate libraries (more than likely on in or new New Plymouth and one in or near Fruitland).

If the district were to be formed without any cities, meaning that only residents in the unincorporated areas would be funding it (which - a reminder - 46.6% of the total value of Payette County sits outside of any city limits), the levy would provide a revenue of $544,614. This is still almost twice the funding available to the Payette (city) Public Library through the city levy.