Silver Falls Library District
Circulation:        503.873.5173
Reference:         503.873.8796
Youth Services:  503.873.7633
​
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    • Tax Information 2020

Budget Message

SILVER FALLS LIBRARY DISTRICT
BUDGET MESSAGE
Fiscal Year 2020-2021
 
OVERVIEW:
 
The Silver Falls Library District has only one fund – the General Fund – as defined by Oregon budget law. Most budget requirements are allocated to one Organizational Unit – Library Services – with the remaining unallocated requirements consisting of the Operating Contingency, the Unappropriated Ending Fund Balance, and unappropriated monies Reserved for Future Expenditures.
 
The District's beginning and ending fund balances are unrestricted, with the only restricted funds activity being the management of Oregon Ready-to-Read grant monies, which are received and expended within the same fiscal year.
 
The proposed 2020-2021 budget utilizes anticipated annual revenues consistent with prior years and continues the District's plan to use the monies designated as Reserved for Future Expenditures. The District has been using the Reserved for Future Expenditures monies gradually over the past several years to address inevitable building maintenance issues, to replace aging equipment and furnishings, and to maintain the expanded service hours that were initiated in September 2012.
 
RESOURCES:
 
The services of the Silver Falls Library District are primarily funded by its permanent property tax levy of $0.5748 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation on the properties within its boundaries. There are several factors which affect the District's income from this levy.

  • Oregon State legislation caps the potential increase in taxable assessed valuation on existing properties at 3% per year. Income increases can surpass that limit due to new construction in the District.
  • Increases in property tax revenues for properties within the Urban Renewal District established by the City of Silverton in 2004 are used to fund those activities, rather than being distributed to other taxing entities, such as the Library District. The current impact of the URD is to the District is nominal.
  • The maximum total amount allowed for all general government property tax levies on properties in the State of Oregon is $10.00 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation (Ballot Measure 5, passed 1990). The Library District levy is included in this limit. If the District's levy and the tax levies for other entities such as county or city government, fire or water districts, recreation districts, etc., total more than $10.00 per thousand of assessed valuation, the actual amount levied may be reduced on each levy in an established priority. This is known as compression. Currently our District is not under compression, although some properties may be affected at some point as new service districts are established or special operating levies are approved by voters. Conversely, negative effects of compression may be mitigated as new construction takes place within the District.
 
The Current Year Property Tax amount levied on properties within the Silver Falls Library District for 2019-2020 increased approximately 4.4 percent from the prior 2018-19 fiscal year. The proposed budget assumes another increase for the coming fiscal year but one that is smaller than in the past 5 years. The estimated growth, which was calculated prior to the COVID-19 outbreak was 3.43%. The Marion County Assessor’s office forecasts a tax revenue for the District of $912,989.33 based on the tax rate of 0.5748 on the $1,588,360,000 assessed on the property within District boundaries. While the revenue can be collected at a rate as high as 99%, we have calculated the rate of return at 94% for the current year tax resource amount of $858,210.00.  Keeping in alignment with our prior year forecasting, our calculations at the time of this budget hearing are conservative at the 94% collection rate. However, as many factors have changed during budget preparation, largely due to the impacts of COVID-19 but also including interest cuts on investments, and reductions in overdue fines, we anticipate more significant budget adjustments prior to the budget’s adoption in June.
 
Income from Prior Year Property Taxes has been lower than forecasted in the current fiscal year budget with only 60% percent of the predicted revenue of $28,000.00 collected by March 31st. While more payments are anticipated in May, it is unlikely that they will reach the forecasted amount. The past three prior years’ taxes were higher than average due to a legal settlement with the telecommunications company Comcast, a tax debt that has now been paid off.
 
Both State Timber Lands and Tax Title Land Fund (i.e., foreclosure proceeds) income are highly variable and unpredictable. Timber harvesting appears to be increasing, but due to the volatility of nearly every market, and the many unknowns about building and construction growth, we have opted to not raise our revenue forecast for Timber funds. Regardless, this forecasting must necessarily remain conservative as these funds have historically been volatile since Oregon’s Timber production scaled down significantly in the 1980s, and is prone to volatile market forces. That said, our State Timberlands payments for the current fiscal year are at 255% of budget compared to being at 543% of budget at this time last year. Foreclosure proceeds for the Tax Title Land Fund are typically small. Whereas we budgeted no income in that revenue line, we have received $780 dollars so far this year.
 
CCRLS (the Chemeketa Cooperative Regional Library Service) assesses taxes on properties within Polk, Yamhill, and Marion Counties at a rate of approximately $0.08 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation. The purpose of CCRLS is to enhance cooperation between member libraries as they provide service to residents of the three counties and the City of Newberg (which is outside of the 3-county area, but contracts with CCRLS for membership) and to develop shared resources. The taxes CCRLS levies fund CCRLS's staffing and operational expenses, provide courier service between the libraries and a shared automated circulation system and online catalog, purchase shared electronic resources, and provide reimbursement funds to member libraries to support their direct services to residents of the area. This year’s anticipated reimbursement is the same as last year’s, at $76,500.00.
 
The District's CCRLS (Chemeketa Cooperative Regional Library Service) Reimbursement income is determined by a formula which factors in (1) the amount of income CCRLS receives from its levy on taxpayers within the Silver Falls Library District and (2) our District's circulation of library materials to CCRLS residents who live outside the boundaries of the Silver Falls Library District. The amount included in the proposed budget reflects the amount approved in the CCRLS 2020-21 budget, but the actual amount received within a fiscal year may vary depending on the timing of the quarterly payments near the beginning or end of a particular fiscal year. Smaller variations may occur if the District receives reimbursement for net lending activity in a particular quarter. As of this writing the courier for the cooperative is currently not running and the CCRLS budget will likely be revised as well, making impacts on our District’s forecasting.
 
CCRLS also budgets a significant amount each year to provide electronic resources, including access to various databases and to downloadable materials through the Library2Go service, and has greatly increased its funding of these services to approximately $300,000.00 in recent years. The funding for these resources is spent directly by CCRLS and does not pass through the budgets of member libraries such as our District, which simultaneously reduces the need for electronic materials purchases by our District and increases the use of the available materials by all CCRLS residents. Due to COVID-19, it is possible that more funds from the CCRLS budget might be diverted to online resources, and taken from line items that funded physical materials or services related to physical materials.
 
The State Aid Grant line is an estimate of the amount to be received in Ready-to-Read Grant funds, based on receipts so far in the current biennium. It is mirrored by a corresponding line in Requirements.  Ready-to-Read Grant expenditures are limited to the amount actually received, and must be expended in their entirety. Their proposed usage must be approved by both the State Library and the Library Service District.
 
The amounts in the remaining lines – Interest; Donations; and Fines and Fees – are based on the general pattern of receipts in previous years.  Interest income, primarily on funds deposited in the Local Government Investment Pool, had increased significantly over the past two years and has now plummeted. At this time last year, the rate was at an all-time high of 2.75%. As of this writing, it has dropped a full point to 1.75%. As a result of this, we have decreased the revenue in this line item by $2,000, or, 10% less than the current year.
 
For multiple reasons, there is a significant decrease in the amount of Fines and Fees. This year, CCRLS adopted a new system of automatic renewals of library materials. This greatly reduced library overdue fine revenue for all libraries in the cooperative. The second reason for the decrease is that there are unknowns about how overdue fees will work in a new structure where physical materials may or may not be as popular as they were prior to COVID-19, and due dates for delivered materials will likely be more flexible for at least several months, with decreased enforcement of penalties for delinquent returns.  Fees for lost or damaged items will continue.
 
The District's Beginning Fund Balance includes the prior year's Unappropriated Ending Fund Balance, which allows the District to meet its financial obligations during the first four and one half months of the fiscal year before any of the current year's tax payments are received in mid-November.
 
Also included in the Beginning Fund Balance are those funds Reserved for Future Expenditures. These reserves were created as a result of a bequest from the estate of Inez Green and have been augmented occasionally by unexpected State Timber Lands income and by Board decisions, primarily regarding salary expenditures for raises and increased service hours. These bequest monies are unrestricted.
 
This budget proposal assumes that the District will levy its full permanent rate of $0.5748 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation.
 
REQUIREMENTS:
 
Overview
 
Requirements for FY 2020-2021 are slightly less than FY 2019-2020. The primary factors around the decrease are that the District made a significant lump sum payment to a PERS offset account this fiscal year, and also completed a partial reroofing of a large portion of the library building. In the budget before you, there are increases for Personnel costs, attributable to factors addressed later in this message. The Materials budget remains flat and Operations/Services budget is slightly decreased.
 
Elections for two positions to be filled on the District's Board of Directors is held in May, every two years. Billing for the District's share of election costs is usually not received until after June 30, but funds have been budgeted and included in the appropriation each year to ensure their availability if the bill is received in either fiscal year. Two positions are up for election in May of 2021.
 
Personnel Services
 
In the proposed budget for 2020-2021, there is an increase of 4.3 percent in salaries. It is based on the creation of one new position and the 3.3 percent annual increases in salaries from last year’s adopted annual wage step system for staff. The salary increases in this budget are solely from the annual step wage increase and there is no additional cost of living increase requested. With this system in place, the District has achieved the goal of having entry level jobs be somewhat above the future-anticipated wage of $15 per hour to keep them attractive for the skilled labor that is needed.
 
Workers Compensation costs for the District have remained stable.
 
The Social Security line includes the District's assessments for both Social Security and Medicare and is based on the relevant percentages of the Salaries line.
 
The amount budgeted for Group Health reflects the "not-to-exceed" rate increases announced by our insurance provider for 2021 and current levels of staff participation. This rate is to be contained within a 5.5% increase for 2020-2021.
 
The District's overall billing for the PERS retirement system for FY 2019-2020 was 14.63% based on gross payroll amounts for all eligible staff.  The PERS employers' rates are scheduled to increase significantly, with the new rate being 21.35% for the next biennium. 



Materials & Services
 
Most of the line items in this portion of the budget remain stable and reflect current expenditures although some expenditures have been transferred to other line items in an effort to more accurately categorize them.
 
Within the Materials section, the lines for Books, AV, and Microforms remain unchanged. The Electronic Media and Periodicals lines are slightly higher to reflect increases in costs from the vendors.
 
Both Building Maintenance and Minor Equipment and Furnishings – consistently the two largest line items in the Operating/Services budget - are significantly lower this year.  There are still six HVAC units that are in excess of 20 years old, and will need replacement over the coming years.  The Building Maintenance budget reflects the anticipated replacement of two more units should they fail during the year. This line also reflects a hot water heater replacement. The Minor Equipment and Furnishings line includes expenditures for the replacement of computers nearing obsolescence, as well as a microfilm reader hardware and software upgrade.
 
Repair and maintenance of plumbing and electrical systems are ongoing processes as the building systems age and experience the wear and tear of public use. In order to keep staff and patrons safer, it is to be anticipated that the library may need to modify some of its service desks and high touch areas upon reopening the facility to the public.

Other line items that show decreases include, Postage, and Gas/Electricity. The electric bill decrease is due to switching to LED lights through the SmartWatt program.

Operating expenditures that have increased due to rising costs from vendors include Insurance, and Bookkeeping & Audit. The Election Expense line has increased in part due to Oregon’s 2016 DMV voter registration act, as this requires the printing of more pamphlets and ballots for the increased number of registered voters.

 
Other proposed increases under Operating and Services include Equipment Maintenance, as it now contains the maintenance contracts for our radio frequency security gates and computer time management software. These items were formerly in Contractual Services. Contractual Services is increased this year to include the hiring of a professional library consultant for the purpose of creating and implementing a strategic plan, as well as for the migration of the entirety of the District’s email service to a vendor, a service that has previously been free of charge through CCRLS.
 
Contingency
 
The amount in the Contingency line of the budget is for the purpose of appropriations, so that these funds would be readily available for transfer, by Board resolution, to the appropriate budget line for expenditure in the event of unforeseen expenses, such as the failure of several HVAC units at once or other emergencies impacting library facilities or services.  State law limits the amount that can be transferred from Contingency to 15% of the total appropriation in the operating fund, and these funds can only be transferred to an existing appropriation.
 
Other Requirements
 
The 2020-2021 proposed budget also includes two categories comprising unappropriated funds, which cannot be spent in the fiscal year without adoption of a supplemental budget or a declared emergency situation.
 
The first of these is Reserved for Future Expenditures.  The funds in this line are primarily from bequest funds, as well as from receipt of State Timber Lands income, which—as mentioned above – is both variable and intermittent, and from conservative fiscal management of available income.  The existence of these funds has provided for added service hours, funded equipment purchases and cushioned the impact of PERS rate increases. The District intends to continue using the funds in this line over a number of years for purposes related to both infrastructure maintenance and service enhancements.
 
Finally, the standard Unappropriated Ending Fund Balance reserves funds for meeting the financial needs of the District during the first third of each fiscal year – before that year's tax revenues begin to be received – without the use of a tax anticipation loan, which would incur interest and processing costs for the taxpayers.  Funds are also maintained in this line to ensure coverage of the deductible amounts on the District's flood and earthquake insurance coverage, should there be major damage to the Library building and/or contents.
 
SUMMARY:
 
The intent of this proposed budget is to support current and developing programs and services for library users of all ages; to refresh and revitalize the Library's materials collection, both physical and electronic; to plan for, implement, and support evolving technologies; and to provide for the maintenance, repair, and replacement – as needed – of the Library's physical infrastructure elements.
 
The proposed budget calls for the District to levy property taxes at it permanent rate of $0.5748 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation.

 
 

Silver Falls Library 410 South Water St., Silverton, OR  97381
Circulation:                   503-873-5173
Reference Desk:           503-873-8796
Youth Services Desk:   503-873-7633
​
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Our Mission:  The Library provides access to diverse theories, ideas, and opinions in a variety of formats, supports developing readers and lifelong learners, offers information, courteous services, and quality programs in a welcoming environment.
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