This week, gas costs were hovering around $5.60 to $5.68 per gallon. Seattle is in a child care crisis with too few seats to cover too many kids at too high a price—if you have two kids under age four, you could pay upwards of $3,000 a month. And, according to Payscale, grocery costs here are 11% higher than the national average.
Why then, has Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson brought the Seattle City Council a proposal for a $410 million levy renewal—nearly double the cost of the expiring levy. Why did the council’s “select” committee to review the proposal pass amendments jacking it up $480 billion?
If approved by the council–a formality since the select committee was made up of nearly the entire council—the levy would likely be on the August ballot.
$480 million. For context, in 2019, voters approved a $219 million levy.
Yes, yes, all signs point to the fact that Seattle is a city of readers. We love our libraries. The Seattle Public Library reported about 10.8 million physical and digital checkouts in 2024, and national literacy studies have repeatedly ranked Seattle among the country’s most literate cities. In 2017 we became a UNESCO City of Literature, after all. Families rely on library storytimes, homework help hours, a Global Reading Challenge, playgroups, and many other services that are important to kids and families. More of these would be terrific.
But as homeowners with kids struggle to meet their food budgets and mortgage payments amid federal government chaos, inflation, insane child care costs, and cuts to family support services, is now the time to ask for more? The library proposal would cost taxpayers about $160 a year, —about $60 more a year on a median-priced home. But at the same time, it would drive total Seattle levy payments of $3.03 per $1,000 of property value. That’s nearly $2,570 a year—or roughly $214 a month—for a home valued at $848,869, the average home value in Seattle according to Zillow.
“That’s just crazy,” said Carmen, a West Seattle homeowner and single parent of three. Carmen doesn’t want her last name used because it’s Hispanic and she’s afraid of ICE despite being a U.S. citizen. “But besides that, didn’t we just pass a huge levy? I’m barely making it here, and they want more?” She was referring, of course, to the $1.3 billion Families, Education, Preschool and Promise (FEPP) levy voters approved last November.
Renew a reasonable levy? Absolutely, says Carmen. But double the last one? No way, another parent told me last week: “I’m not an ATM.”
This week Seattle Councilmember Maritza Rivera released this statement: “We love our libraries. That is why the proposed Library Levy renewal is 50% more than the current levy,” Rivera said. “And that is on top of what was added for inflation.”
But while Rivera supports the levy at $410 million, she drew the line at the $70 million in amendments, which she said “places more of a burden on Seattle residents and will push us even closer to the City’s levy cap.” Washington state law prevents the City from charging more than $3.60 per $1,000 of property.
“Any increases to this package will diminish our capacity to address other needs through upcoming levies. This is of concern,” Rivera said. “We have a renewal of the Housing levy coming in four years, for instance, and what we ask for now will deeply impact what we can ask for then. That is the reality we are faced with.”
And yet the committee approved the amended proposal on April 8.
Rivera also said something she and the council—and the mayor—need to hear and heed: “It is our job to be judicious and fiscally responsible to the taxpayers.”
So. Do your job Seattle City Council. Vote down a $480 million library levy and replace it with a reasonable ask.
Take action: On April 14, the council is expected to vote on whether to move the proposal to the August ballot. Now’s the time to fill council member in-boxes, no matter where you stand. Write to [email protected], which will reach all nine council offices, or call (206) 684-8888.
