The Library Board has the legal authority to approve annual budgets but our mill rate is governed by caps established by the City Commission. Our City tax revenues can never exceed the cap. In the last ten years, Board approved budgets have cut the Library’s mill rate four times.

Voters first approved funding a public library in 1899. Since then, the Commission has passed three Charter Ordinances to cap our mill rate. Ordinance 10 passed in 1971 and established a cap of 2 mills. In 1985, Ordinance 27 raised the cap to 3.25 mills. In 1986, the Commission passed Ordinance 29, increasing the cap to 3.75 mills. That ordinance was timed with the opening of the new facility on Spruce Street and the cap it established has not changed in 40 years.

What is the return on investment for Leavenworth’s library funding? It cost the Library $1.16 to loan a book last year; buying the cheapest paperback edition of the same book would have cost the reader $17.99.