Saskatoon taxpayers to pay more for libraries in 2015
The average Saskatoon household is poised to pay an additional $7.50 a year to support public libraries.
The preliminary City of Saskatoon budget proposes a 4.75 per cent increase to the library property tax for 2015.
This year, the average household with a home valued at $325,000 paid $158 a year for libraries. If the preliminary budget is passed by council next month, households will pay $165.50 a year for libraries in 2015.
A large chunk of funding to Saskatoon Public Libraries will go into a reserve for a new central library, which has been accumulating cash since 2009.
If city council approves the proposed 2015 civic budget, the balance in that fund will reach $11.83 million. It’s estimated that $70 million is needed to support a new downtown library branch.
Coun. Mairin Loewen, who represents city council on the library board, said “it’s very difficult to say” when the board will have a plan for creating a new central library.
“The library board continues to make it a priority and commits quite a bit of time to that, but it’s not at a stage in the process where any specific site has been selected for the project,” she said.
In 2012, the library floated the idea of turning the old Fourth Avenue police station into a library when it was vacated. That idea has since been taken off the table.
Loewen said the board is looking for a building that’s “conducive to a larger and more modernized facility” than the current Frances Morrison Library, but still centrally located.
“There aren’t a lot of sites that meet that criteria,” she said.
While the public has not been widely consulted on whether their tax dollars should be spent on a new downtown library, Loewen said she has heard anecdotally from people who wholeheartedly support the initiative.
“They do feel that it’s an important asset for a growing city to have, particularly as an amenity in the downtown at a time when we’re trying to make living downtown more appealing,” she said.
Loewen said there is a desire to have plans made sooner rather than later “because this project is not getting any cheaper” and that the library property tax could continue to climb as the board continues to sock away money for a new central branch.
Library property taxes increased just 1.81 per cent from 2013 to 2014.
Loewen said she thinks the more significant increase requested for 2015 is “reasonable.”
Increased library funding in 2015 will also support the opening of a new neighbourhood library branch.