The Yavapai County Free Library District will be decreasing the financial support it gives to municipal libraries by $475,000 over the next two years.

District officials said that municipal libraries were chosen for the funding cuts because they have more fundraising opportunities than rural libraries, while rural libraries provide some of the few options for rural residents to access government services and entertainment.

The district is pursuing the funding cut as a cost-saving measure due to inflation, an increase in the cost of staffing of $467,076 over the last two years and increases in other expenses, such as fuel, books and maintenance, of $102,000 since last year. The problem is compounded by the library’s share of the county property tax levy having failed to increase at the same rate as expenses.

“This is obviously not anything anybody likes to do,” Yavapai County Librarian Corey Christians said. “Our municipal libraries are important to us, they serve residents, like our unincorporated libraries do. It’s just the unfortunate reality that the economy is such that something has to give. The alternative to taking some funds from the contribution is closing some libraries and in those communities in the unincorporated areas where they have libraries. It’s their only civic service.”

For the next fiscal year, the amount generated by the library district tax levy is expected to be $5 million, a slight increase from $4.9 million last year. Yavapai County as a whole has seen a 2.1% annual increase in revenue from property taxes and has budgeted revenue of $61 million from property taxes.

The proposed cuts were unanimously approved by the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors at their May 5 meeting in Prescott. The following libraries will be affected:

Prescott Public Library: $162,580

Prescott Valley Public Library: $105,874

Sedona Public Library: $76,826

Cottonwood Public Library: $47,065

Chino Valley Public Library: $28,544

Camp Verde Community Library: $25,570

Clarkdale Public Library: $11,538

Dewey-Humboldt Public Library: $10,322

Jerome Public Library: $7,133

SPL’s budget for 2022 was $1.5 million, with the city of Sedona providing 33%, Coconino County providing 27% and Yavapai County providing 17% or $269,767. Yavapai County’s budget cuts will reduce SPL’s budget by 2.56% overall during the next two years.

“Yavapai County cuts will affect Sedona in that we will have a deficit in our budget,” SPL director Judy Poe said. “We are a nonprofit, so it’s always difficult. We get money from Yavapai County, Coconino County and [the city of] Sedona and we still have a development director and still have to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to meet our operating expenses. So whenever we have a cut that’s a major thing for us to deal with.”

Poe added that SPL currently plans to do more fundraising to offset this loss of funding.

“Unlike more than 90% of libraries in the country that cities run and manage,” Poe said at a Women of Sedona meeting on May 10, “SPL is a nonprofit … we’re constantly doing fund drives. Sedona didn’t become a city until 1988; [SPL] was already 30 years old.”

Sedona City Manager Karen Osburn stated that city staff are recommending an increase to the city’s contribution to the library that will more than make up for the loss of county funds, which is currently scheduled for discussion at a city council meeting on Tuesday, June 13.

The Yavapai County library district is a political taxing subdivision of the state of Arizona and is its own governing authority that is separate from the county government although occupying the same boundaries. By statute, the board of directors of the library district is also the Yavapai Board of Supervisors.

“In order to cover the increase in costs over the last couple of years, the library district would have to look at a minimum of a $500,000 levy increase that would meet next year’s budget requirements,” Christians said at the April meeting. “That would mean about 15½ cents per $100 net asset value. So about a penny and a half increase per $100 to the taxpayer, matching roughly what we had in fiscal year 2021.”

Christians pointed out that he can only operate within the levy. However, the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors could make the determination to increase the levy without the increase having to go before the electorate.

“We’re going through record inflation, everybody’s costs are going up,” Christians said while mentioning potential future projects that might affect the local economy. “There seems to be a general feeling that increasing property tax rates might not be a good thing to do at this particular time.”

Poe said libraries can be economic drivers and mentioned SPL’s partnership with Local First Arizona to hold Fuerza Local as an example.

“It’s a business incubator project for Spanish-speakers,” Poe explained. “It’s held entirely in Spanish … 13 new businesses were started in the Verde Valley from that first cohort. The next cohort was in Cottonwood and the third cohort is back.”

The Yavapai Library Network stated that its return on investment is $6.32 for every dollar spent on member libraries and that it provides $4.4 million in average annual taxpayer savings.

Yavapai County Capital Improvements

Last year’s budget for Yavapai County Libraries didn’t include any capital contributions from the county; however the friend’s group did contribute $30,000 for repaving the parking lot at Black Canyon City. Next year’s budget request includes a request for $106,000 for capital improvements across the county.  

“I’ve been putting off a lot of projects due to budget constraints,” Christians said at the April meeting. “Unfortunately, climate has shifted somewhat since COVID, where some of these projects pretty much need to be done at this point. Not all of our libraries have cameras located at them, where we are seeing an increased number of incidents.”

$47,000 has been requested by county libraries to install security cameras for preventative and liability reasons. $30,000 for keyless entry for employees, $23,000 for a new Yarnell Circulation desk that was approved in last year’s budget but was later cut to lower expenses and $6,100 for a Cordes Lakes repainting project because that facility was recently remodeled, existing portions of the branch were not painted.