The Iowa Code allows cities (including cities without their own public library) to levy an additional tax of up to $0.27 per $1,000 assessed property valuation for support of a public library. (There is not a comparable levy for counties.)
- There is a petition and referendum required to pass the levy.
- The levy question is put on the ballot in regular city elections, held in odd numbered years. The next opportunity to have it on the ballot is November 2019 followed by 2021, 2023 etc.
- Library levies start on July 1 of the following fiscal year. So if your library levy passes in November 2019, your funding should begin as of July 1, 2020.
Steps to Pursuing the Levy
- Share information about the levy and its benefits with your library board
- Discuss with the board how you would use additional funds to improve library service
- Inform key city officials - mayor, city council, administrator, etc. (A selling point is that the decision is in the hands of the voters – they decide if they want to tax themselves a little more to support the public library.)
- Consult the city attorney
- Ask the county auditor about deadlines for getting it on the ballot
- Discuss the referendum wording with the board - would the community support a levy with no ending date or would it be more likely to pass if it were in effect for five years, 10 years, etc. (The referendum wording will also appear on the petition.) Caution on levy ending dates below.
- Work on the petition, make sure the wording is identical to the the language of the referendum
- Discuss who will start and collect the petition (be aware of ethics issues)
- Petition is valid if signed by 10% of eligible voters in the last regular city election, but not less than 10 persons (cannot be signed by rural residents)
- Present signed petition to City Council
- City Council and City Administrator forward the petition to the County Auditor for inclusion on the ballot
- After the election, please notify the State Library about the outcome.
Cautions
- If you decide to have a levy ending date, be aware of the timeline for renewing the levy. The levy question is put on the ballot in regular city elections, held in odd numbered years. For example, if your levy ends June 30, 2020, you would need to have the question of renewing the levy on the ballot in 2019. If you miss that deadline, you would have to wait until 2021 and your library would be without levy funding for two years.
- A 2007 Attorney General’s opinion about the special library levy cautioned that a petition including language that attempts to limit use of revenue from the levy would likely be rejected by an Iowa court. It was reasoned that the, “expenditure of tax revenue generated to support the library is determined and controlled by the governing body of the library – the board of trustees. If the voters approve a supplemental library tax levy to be used to support the public library, then the trustees can appropriate the funds for any lawful use to support the library.” This opinion should not be read as calling into question the validity of previous levies that directed use of revenue from the levy.
- A concern often expressed by library directors is "Can the city cut the library's budget once the library has additional revenue from the special levy?" The simple answer is "yes." However, there are some recommended strategies to help you prevent budget cuts. The New Hampton Public Library Director, Pat Ipsen, formed a citizen committee made up of people who used the library regularly. In New Hampton, which passed the levy in 2005, the citizen committee met first with the mayor and city clerk and later, the city council, to inform them of their plans to pursue the levy and get their "buy-in." This strategy worked for New Hampton. The approach resulted in a group of informed citizens with an investment in seeing that the funds generated from the levy were in addition to any other money the city spends on the library. Had the city tried to cut the library's budget, the citizen committee would have advocated against the budget cut on behalf of the library.
- Iowa Code 68A.505 prohibits the use of public funds for any political purpose, including the express advocacy of a ballot issue. “Public moneys” includes direct or indirect expenditure of funds by a governmental body, the use of any property, resource, or equipment owned by the governmental body, and use of staff time during regular working hours
- Once a group of people have raised more than $750 or spent more than $750 in a calendar year for the purpose of supporting (or opposing) the levy, the group must file the Statement of Organization as a committee. (Even if you don’t reach $750, you still need to have “paid for by” on material)