WCLS receives 95.1% of its funding from property taxes paid by community members who live in Whatcom County outside the city limits of Bellingham. The current levy rate is $0.26 per $1,000 of assessed value.

WCLS is a junior taxing district, which means it is not part of Whatcom County government and does not receive funding from the county. Bellingham Public Library is a separate system funded by the City of Bellingham that serves residents within the city limits of Bellingham.

It has been 16 years since Whatcom County Library System (WCLS) asked voters to lift the library levy rate.

Taxing districts expect to go out to voters every four years or so to maintain adequate funding levels. Thanks to sound, conservative budgeting, WCLS has been able to stretch taxpayer dollars for 16 years. However, with inflation averaging between 4-8% for multiple years, WCLS can no longer keep up with expenses.

The cost of library materials, staff minimum wage, supplies, fuel and utilities has dramatically increased. For instance, in the past decade, eBook and eAudiobook costs have increased 164%.

Meanwhile, the use of library services has outpaced population growth. The library district population has increased 18% since 2009 while at the same time the number of items checked out has increased 47%, the number of cardholders has increased 56%, and our annual open hours have increased 22%.

Due to inflation, the library system’s expenses are now outpacing revenues, and we will need to cut our current level of staffing, collections, programs and services. Rather than doing that, the Board of Trustees is asking voters to restore the levy rate, which will provide fiscal stability and allow the system to adapt and change based on future customer needs and population growth.

If Proposition 2025-02 passes, WCLS will support our community’s priorities by maintaining the current level of services and could initiate projects that meet the needs of the growing service area.

• Maintain current level of staffing, open hours and programs
• Continue supporting a robust collection of library materials, including physical and digital items, with minimal wait times and online/streaming resources
• Address deferred maintenance and facilities needs
• Pursue opportunities for library building projects

If Proposition 2025-02 fails, beginning in 2026 and continuing each year after, WCLS will have to make cuts to staffing, hours, services and the library collection. This would include:

• Cut staff, reduce open hours and eliminate some services, which may include closing branches one or two days a week
• Reduce investment in library materials, including physical and digital items, increasing wait time for materials and decreasing selection
• Cannot address deferred building projects and facilities needs
• Abandon opportunities for library building projects

The library levy lid lift proposition will be on the Aug. 5, 2025, ballot. View ballot and voting materials, register to vote or update voter registration, and track the status of your ballot at votewa.gov.

To pass, Proposition 2025-02 requires simple majority who cast a ballot in the Aug. 5 election to vote yes.

WCLS was formed in 1944 after leaders from grange halls advocated for the establishment of a rural library system. County residents voted on the matter and agreed to tax themselves for library services provided by WCLS. Today, WCLS has 10 branch locations throughout Whatcom County, a bookmobile, outreach programs and an administrative office with a library express to serve the 140,730 people who currently live in the library district. A library express is under construction in Birch Bay. WCLS also offers 24/7 online services at wcls.org.

Yes, property owners who live in Whatcom County outside the city limits of Bellingham pay property taxes to WCLS.  Thanks to an interlocal agreement between our two library systems, you are allowed to use the Bellingham Public Library at no additional charge.  Our partnership relies on each library system having healthy budgets to sustain our shared collections and provide services.

No. Bellingham Public Library and Whatcom County Library System are separate library systems with their own budgets. WCLS’s property tax levy supports our 10 county libraries outside the city limits of Bellingham as well as the bookmobile, library express locations and online services. 

A levy is a tax on property values to fund operations of a taxing district. In this case, Whatcom County Library System is the taxing district. A district’s initial base levy amount is set by multiplying a voter-approved levy rate by the assessed value of all the properties in the district. Under state law, all tax levies may only increase by 1% annually plus a small adjustment for new construction. Because the annual base levy amount must by law stay relatively fixed, as assessed property values go up, the levy rate goes down.

Initiative 747, passed in 2001, established a “101% levy limit,” limiting the amount by which any taxing jurisdiction can increase its regular property tax levy. This means that the library system’s levy may not increase the total levy amount collected from current assessed valuation by more than 1% annually (the “levy lid”). The 1% limit restricts revenue growth every year, especially when costs are increasing by more than 1% per year due to inflation, salary and benefit costs, and other factors.

As the name suggests, a levy lid lift raises the levy rate from its current level to a higher one, resetting the base levy amount. Levy lid lifts must be approved by a simple majority. The lift happens once, and after that, the district’s levy may only increase by 1% for each subsequent year.

A single-year levy lid lift is the means to exceed the 101% levy limit. It allows the maximum levy to increase by more than 1% for one year only. It “lifts the levy lid.” The extra funds generated are put into a reserve fund to draw upon in later years as costs begin to exceed subsequent capped 1% increases.

WCLS is an independent junior taxing district, like a school district or a fire district. Taxes collected to support Whatcom County government do NOT support library services. Voters established the library district in 1944 and agreed to pay $0.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value to fund it. The levy rate has fallen well below that rate and now WCLS is asking voters to lift the levy lid.

By law, taxing districts may only increase their levies by up to 1% each year. A property valued at $600,000 that paid $156 to WCLS in year one would pay $157.56 in year 2, an increase of $1.56 to WCLS.

Your tax liabilities increase when voters approve a NEW levy (say, a school district capital projects levy, or the jail levy) or when voters approve the formation of an entirely new taxing district (such as a new Park District). So, your “extra” taxes go to the new taxing districts or new levies, with only the 1% annual increase allowed by law going to WCLS.

This proposition would authorize WCLS to restore its property tax levy rate to 42 cents per thousand dollars of assessed value. The median home price in Whatcom County is currently $600,000. If the proposition passes, the owner of a property valued at $600,000 would pay an additional $8 a month – or $96 a year – in support to the library.

• Visit the Whatcom County Assessor & Treasurer Property Search
  https://property.whatcomcounty.us/
• Click on I Agree.
• Click on Advanced >> button.
• Enter the Street Number of the property (eg. 1234)
• Enter the Street Name (start typing and select an item from the list).
• Scroll down and click the blue Search button.
• Click on View Details.
• Scroll down and click on Taxing Jurisdictions.
• Scroll down to find RL – RURAL LIBRARY and scan right for Base Paid.   This is the amount this property pays annually for library services.

WCLS operates 10 libraries, plus bookmobile services, a full-service website with access to eBooks and streaming video and music, and services to homebound patrons and the Whatcom County Jail. Keeping all these services available five to seven days a week takes approximately 168 staff members. Wages and benefits account for 74% of total expenses. We spend $1.3 million annually on new library materials, including eBooks, to keep up with patron demand for new and popular titles.

Inflation and other factors have driven up the cost of library materials, staff minimum wage, supplies, utilities and fuel.

WCLS is a complex, sophisticated organization serving all of Whatcom County (outside the city limits of Bellingham). To put our $11 million budget into perspective, annual budgets for Whatcom County school districts range from $34 million to $59 million. Each of those school districts serves a fraction of the people that WCLS serves. WCLS serves all those students, the preschoolers and all the adults in Whatcom County, too.

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Download WCLS’s annual budget detail (PDF)

The library system’s budget is available on the Board of Trustees page of our website: wcls.org/board.

Whatcom County Library Foundation solicits private donations to support library initiatives; WCLF’s annual income varies and has brought in between $100,000 – $180,000 in recent years.

WCLS is also grateful for the fundraising efforts of 10 Friends of the Library organizations that hold book sales and other fundraisers to enhance their local branch libraries. Some Friends groups even own and maintain their community’s library building. Friends’ revenue is quite modest and not sufficient to pay for staffing or other ongoing operating expenses.

WCLS actively seeks state, federal, and corporate funding as available. Grant cycles are competitive and are generally for one-time purchases, not ongoing operating expenses. We received $2 million from the Washington State Department of Commerce to go towards the construction of the Birch Bay Vogt Library Express. Identifying grant opportunities, applying for grants, and stewarding grant funds is a time-consuming process and WCLS’s budget is not sufficient to support paying for a full-time dedicated staff member to coordinate this work.

Construction is funded through a state grant, a funding allocation from Whatcom County and private gifts. Friends of the Birch Bay Library continue to fundraise to support unexpected construction costs and project enhancements. The library is projected to open in late 2026. The ongoing operating costs as well as furniture, fixtures and equipment have been accounted for in WCLS’s budget. When it opens, the Birch Bay Vogt Library Express will have staff on-site at hours to be designated. Similar to other library express locations in Sumas, Point Roberts and at our Northwest Drive location, when staff are not on-site, library patrons may access the building with their library card from 6 a.m.-11 p.m. daily. Learn more at wcls.org/birchbay. 

In 2024, 61,846 WCLS cardholders checked out more than 2.1 million items from the library. If each person bought those items and the average cost per item was $20, it would have cost a total of $42 million. Visits to our locations totaled 552,420. Patron use of library computers was up 12% (43,929 sessions), and WiFi sessions were up 1% to 85,367. In 2024, WCLS staff planned and hosted 2,252 programs (+24% compared to 2023) for children, teens and adults that were attended by 54,748 people (+23% compared to 2023).

In 2023, WCLS ranked highest in total circulation among our peers that serve areas with a population of 100,001 to 250,000. We expect to hold this ranking when 2024 data is released by the state library.

WCLS receives 95.1% of its funding from local property taxes paid by property owners who live in our service area. IMLS is the only federal agency dedicated to supporting the work of public libraries across the United States. Although WCLS has received limited direct support via IMLS in the past*, of greater concern is the impact these reductions — as well as cuts at the state level — will have on the budget of the Washington State Library, which in turn supports WCLS and Whatcom County residents.

At risk is the Washington Statewide Database Licensing program administered by the state library. This program provides access to a variety of online research tools and supervision of the Washington Digital Library Consortium, which lends over 1 million eBooks and eAudiobooks annually through the Libby app. The Washington Talking Book and Braille Library (WTBBL) would also be profoundly affected. WTBBL provides special “talking book” listening devices to people across the state with vision impairments, including people in Whatcom County. In addition to impacts on access to eBooks, eAudiobooks and materials for people with vision impairments, these cuts will be felt locally because WCLS will not be able to call upon the Washington State Library for staff training grants or rural history digitization projects, among other things. As federal and state support for public libraries dwindles, local support in the form of property tax becomes essential.

*In 2020 WCLS received $3,000 in CARES funding for personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic. In 2021-2022, we received $28,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.