Many things help make a city great. Good schools and city services are two. A third is a great library.

We have that with the King County Library System. Thanks to strong public support and a top-notch staff, it’s the third busiest library system in the country.

Now the library system needs our help to maintain the quality that we demand – and have come to expect. A measure on the Feb. 9 ballot will restore funds that have been whittled away from the library over the years. The measure deserves a “yes” vote.

Proposition 1 asks voters to restore the King County Library System’s property tax levy rate to 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value for collection in 2011. Voters did that exact same thing in 2002 and we have been enjoying the benefits ever since.

People here use the library. Nearly 90 percent of the 1.2 million residents in KCLS’ service area have a library card.

What do they do with it? Plenty.

In 2008, residents checked out more than 20 million items from KCLS libraries, a 43 percent increase over the 14 million items circulated in 2001.

Also in 2008, 161,183 children attended Story Times, a 78 percent increase over 2001.

Participation by children and teens in the annual Summer Reading Program has grown from 14,000 in 2001 to 40,100 in 2008. That’s an increase of 186 percent.

In 2008 more than 1.1 million computer sessions were booked at KCLS libraries.

And, online connections to kcls.org exceeded 26 million visits in 2008.

Keeping up with this growth costs money. That’s why the library system is asking for our help.

The library system gets 96 percent of its operating money from property tax. In 2001, voters passed I-747 which limits growth in current property tax revenues to 1 percent per year. The intent of that measure was good, but we all know that costs climb more than 1 percent a year. To authorize more requires an election to increase above the 1 percent limit. That’s what the library system is asking.

If Proposition 1 is approved, a homeowner would pay an increase of about $32 on a home assessed at $400,000 to restore the library property tax levy rate to that 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. That’s less than a dime a day.

The following years again would be limited to a 1 percent increase, just as the law allows.

The KCLS has been a good steward of the funds we have given it. Like the rest of us, it has cut back in tight times.

It already has cut $1.9 million out of the operating budget for materials (books, magazines, DVDs, books on tape, etc.), technology, administration and facility maintenance. In addition, KCLS sought private funding to support a number of programs and services.

Restoring the levy limit will enable the library system to preserve the current level of library service, programs and resources at all 44 libraries, and maintain outreach services to community centers, low-income daycare facilities, and to the elderly and homebound.

If Proposition 1 does not pass, the system will face 10-15 percent budget cuts across the organization, including funding for books, computers and building maintenance to operate within current revenue restrictions.

A dime a day. That’s all it will take to keep our library system operating at peak form.

Vote “yes” on Proposition 1.

– Craig Groshart, for the Bellevue Reporter