3 Eastside Communities Opt Out Of Library System -- A No Vote By Clyde Hill, Yarrow Point, Hunts Point

Three of the state's most affluent communities may be left without county library service after next year.

Voters of Clyde Hill, Yarrow Point and Hunts Point chose not to annex to the King County Library System in election results certified this week, and the towns have previously all said they cannot afford to renew contracts they have with the county for library service.

The final tallies were not even close: Clyde Hill voted 835-698 against annexing to the library system, Yarrow Point 367-157 and Hunts Point 189-51.

At the same time, Medina, with a population approximating that of Clyde Hill, voted 857-670 in favor of annexing to the system. The smallest of the five "Gold Coast" communities, Beaux Arts Village, passed annexation 95-70.

None of the five communities have library branches within their borders. Residents principally use the county library in Bellevue, where a new three-story, 80,000-square-foot facility is under construction.

Under their annual contracts with the system, the small towns have been paying much less than other parts of the county for library services. In Clyde Hill, for example, the contract costs $42,480 a year. But, when the county phases in a new contract rate to match the rate it collects through property taxes elsewhere in the system, the figure will be $169,800 by 1994.

COUNTY OFFERS ANNEXATION

Instead of continuing to charge the contract rates, the library system offers residents the alternative of annexing their town to the system, which then would collect from property owners.

The library system now assesses residents 41 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property value.

The Points cities face even steeper increases than Clyde Hill: Yarrow Point, currently charged $15,390, will be billed $90,800 and the Hunts Point contract, now at $7,800, will go to $96,800.

From the standpoint of per capita cost of library services, the rates appear grossly inequitable. According to a 1990 study by The Georgette Group, the average person in unincorporated King County was paying $23.11 per year to the library district. But because of the high assessed valuation of residents' properties, the average per capita cost in Clyde Hill would be $60.35, on Yarrow Point $101.24, and on Hunts Point $210.91.

In the city of Medina, which approved annexation, the per capita cost is estimated at $106.72, in Beaux Arts, $51.35.

Bill Ptacek, director of the county library system, said state law establishes property taxes as the basis for funding districts. "We can't just shift gears and say we'll assess per capita." he said.

And there's another way to look at the costs, Ptacek said: The owner of a $500,000 home in Medina will be charged $205 for library service, the same amount charged the owner of a $500,000 home in Bellevue.

Bellevue recently voted to annex to the system, as did Redmond, Kirkland, Issaquah, Snoqualmie, North Bend, SeaTac, Black Diamond, Algona, Pacific, Skykomish and Federal Way.

FOES AGAINST SUBSIDIZING

Opponents of annexation in the Gold Coast communities object to subsidizing less affluent areas, a result of basing the library charge on property value. A similar argument has led Mercer Island, which now has a county branch library, to explore the feasibility of a municipal library. The issue is scheduled for the 1992 general-election ballot on Mercer Island.

So why did the owners of Medina's expensive homes pass annexation with 57 percent of the vote? Lynn Batchelor, administrative assistant to the Medina city manager, said the city's library committee "had a positive attitude, and kept the people informed for months before the election - it was no last-minute campaign."

But library committees on Clyde Hill and the Points towns sent out literature urging a "no" vote.

"The towns feel local control of their tax dollars is very important," said Yarrow Point Councilwoman Arlys Gale, a member of the town's library committee. "We incorporated to leave King County and control our own destiny, so why return now?"

ALTERNATIVES HAVE NARROWED

Hunts Point Mayor Ersell Eade says mayors of the five communities have discussed some alternatives, including the possibility of forming their own library, "but without Medina and Beaux Arts, that's now crossed off."

One alternative presented in the voters' pamphlet is "opting out of directly supporting any library services. Individual cards can be obtained from the Seattle Public Library." The latter currently will issue a card to any county resident without charge.

King County operates the fifth-largest rural library service in the nation with a budget of $66.5 million, circulation approaching 10 million per year, and close to one-half million registered borrowers.

"The bottom line of all this," says Ptacek, "is that persons not within the district will not have access to the system's materials."