The library faces an $800,000 shortfall. To address this, it made a $235,000 budget cut and is requesting a $448,254 property tax increase.  

Truth in Taxation is required when a taxing entity (like Provo City) wants to increase property taxes beyond what it would get from natural growth. It involves publishing notices and holding a public hearing to get feedback from citizens.

Learn more about how property taxes work and the Truth in Taxation process in the section below the FAQ.

87% of the library's revenue comes from property tax. 4% comes from vehicle taxes. 4% comes from rentals. 2% comes from fees. 2% comes from interest income. 1% comes from used book sales and merchandise. 0.02% comes from parking permits.

In 2023, the Council approved an additional $100,000 in property tax revenue for the library. But due to lower-than-expected tax revenues and building maintenance costs, this amount will not be sufficient to maintain the same programs and services. 

The dollar bill represents how property tax is split among tax entities. Provo School District gets 57%, Provo City gets 17%, Utah State gets 15%, Utah County gets 8%, and Central Utah gets 4%.

As demonstrated by the dollar bill, Provo City's property tax is further split into three funds:

• 8% goes to paying off bonds. (A bond is is typically issued for large capital projects and is approved by a vote of the citizens within a certain taxing entity. Bonds are not included in the Truth in Taxation process because the city and citizens already agreed to pay it when the project was approved through a vote.)
• 6% goes to general operations (to pay for things in the general fund like emergency services, road maintenance, and community programs).
• 4% currently goes to the library. The proposed tax increase would increase the library's portion of the property tax revenue by 11.39% ($448,254).

There are multiple reasons for the library's financial challenges, including:

Inflation

Over the last 24 years, the city has made two adjustments to the library's property tax rate, which hasn't kept up with inflation. This means the library's buying power, or what they're able to afford, has been decreasing.

Essentially, the library was able to afford more in the year 2000 than it can in the year 2024 because the cost of things has gone up. (If something cost $100 in the year 2000, the current cost would be $144.) But the library wasn't given extra funding to make up for this increase in cost.

Building Maintenance

The library occupies a historic building of the former Brigham Young Academy, which was built in 1892. The building was restored in 2001. Since then, the library has done partial brick sealing and repair, carpet replacement, and reroofing. However, the building continues to have maintenance problems, such as needing gutter and brick repairs. The library spent an estimated $686,508 in projects costs in FY24.

Lower-Than-Expected Tax Revenue

The library's property tax rate has been intentionally raised only twice since the year 2000. The past couple of years, there has also been a drop in the vehicle taxes received by the library. This revenue has not recovered to the levels that had previously been projected. 

Depleted Savings

The library's savings (ending fund balance) are currently at approximately $2 million. While the move to the current building in the early 2000s allowed the library to save money, the above factors have forced the library to dip into its savings. Because the library accumulates revenue from interest from this fund, using the savings also means receiving less interest each year.

To increase revenue, the library has:

• Increased class fees to cover experiences involving food: +$15,000
• Increased rental fees: +$75,000
• Branded merchandise +$2,500
• Parking permit revenue: +$1,000

The library has also saved $235,000 with budget cuts, including reducing building maintenance, collection purchases, streaming services, exhibits, technology upgrades, and personnel costs. They have also increased rental fees for meeting rooms to generate additional revenue.

The library has been using up its ending fund balance (savings) to cover deficits.

In fiscal year 2024, the library spent 66% of its revenue on salaries, 10% on capital projects, 10% on collections (such as books), 8% on overheads, 6% on building maintenance, 5% on technology, 3% on miscellaneous costs, and 2% on programming (such as materials for exhibits and storytelling programs).

The chart below shows the library's total revenue and expenses, including how its expenses are broken down.

The average homeowner would pay an extra $1 per month, approximately. The exact impact on your property tax will depend on the assessed value of your property. For example, if your home is valued at $482,000, you would pay an extra $11.93 per year. If your business is valued at $482,000, you would pay an extra $21.69 per year. 

If the tax increase is not approved, the library will cut $482,000 from its budget. This includes cutting some collections, reducing staff and hours, and possibly shutting down some nontraditional services like the attic, creative lab, and outreach programs.

While the new property tax would apply year after year, there is no request for any additional increases planned for fiscal year 2026. However, the library expects small periodic adjustments going forward, each of which would go through the same Truth in Taxation process. 

The Council has set a public hearing for Truth in Taxation on August 13th at 6pm at City Hall in order to get citizens' feedback. Citizens are also encouraged to email council@provo.org.

The Council toured the library to get a fuller picture of the library's services and standards, and has also scheduled a joint meeting with the Library Board on July 23rd at 5:30pm. This meeting will be available to watch on the Council's YouTube and Facebook pages. 

Founded over 100 years ago, the Provo City Library's function is to provide the community with an inviting center for information, instruction, learning, leisure, and cultural opportunities. The appointed Library Board is responsible for approving the annual budget, policy approval and oversight of the director's performance. The Library is divided into four major divisions:

1. Administration provides leadership for all areas of the Library and is responsible for the human resources, financial and facilities services for the Library. This division also includes the Events department which manages and facilitates the meeting room usage and the Community Relations department which coordinates many programs, supervises and installs the Attic exhibits and creates and implements the marketing strategies and associated graphic design.
2. Adult/teen services provides reference and reader's advisory assistance and plans and implements weekly and monthly programs and activities.
3. Children's services provides reference and reader's advisory services and plans and implements weekly story times and a variety of other programs throughout a typical month.
4. Support Services consists of Circulation, Technical Services and the Information Systems departments. Circulation provides checkout and check-in assistance of the Library's collection as well as shelf management. Technical services orders and processes new items. Information Systems provides support for the 100 public computers, 50 staff computers and wireless access points.

Visit provolibrary.org for more information.

The library has presented its services, outcomes, and finances to the City Council. Click the links below for the recordings and presentation materials.

April 30, 2024

• Meeting Recording
• Presentation Materials

 June 4, 2024

• Meeting Recording
• Presentation Materials

There are lots of ways to get involved:

• Email council@provo.org.
• Post on the Open City Hall forum. 
• Attend the public hearing on August 13th, 6pm, at City Hall or by Zoom. Information to join by Zoom will be published on August 8th.

We'd also love to hear any other ideas you have for keeping the library funded but still free to the public.