Definitions

Terminology is often the biggest hurdle – especially when it comes to government and taxes. For the purposes of understanding this document, the following definitions may be helpful.

City-funded Library: Library services that are funded primarily through taxes that are collected from (and only from) residents of that city.

Community Library: Library services that are funded primarily through private donations.

Library District: Library services that are funded by residents within the district. A district can be any shape or size (think about how school districts are divided up – often completely independent of city boundaries). A District is independent of city governments. For example, the Fruitland City Council does not manage, nor provide funding for, the Fruitland School District. The Fruitland School District is managed through an independently elected Board of Directors, and funding is obtained directly from the county treasurer.

Library Branch: A building that is part of a larger library entity, generally a district. Branch libraries are unique to their individual communities, but operate under the umbrella of a larger organization. Access to all branches is available to all residents within the district.

Levy: A tax or fee. Levies are generally based on property value and are collected yearly by the county assessor, who then distributes the appropriate funds to the appropriate entities. Levies are often shown as a percentage (of your property value). For example, the City of Payette's levy (2016) is 0.09812180%. That means that if you take your property value and multiply it by that percentage, you have calculated the tax that you have paid to the City.

Bond: Extremely simplified, a bond is a method for a city (or other entity) to "take out a loan". Bonds are usually used for larger construction projects. They allow a city to collect a lot of money quickly (from banks, so to speak) to fund the large projects, and then they pay that loan back a little each year using tax revenue. It's very similar to a house's mortgage.

Property Value/Assessment: The value of property determined by the county assessor. This is not the price that you bought your house for, or the price you think you could sell it for. The Payette County Assessor sends out Property Assessment Notices every October, and they are available on the county's website. This value is often much lower than residents guess.

Operating Expenses: Expenses that are associated with the day-to-day operations of a library. Operating Expenses include almost everything except construction funds.

Consortium: A group that has "banded together" to share resources. In our case, this would be where most e-books come from.

Would it be helpful to have anything else on this list? Drop me a line and let me know! PCLD@cableone.net