On a cloudy Friday morning in mid-November, Brent Collamer began his day by making the rounds in the downtown Reno library’s ground floor.
“About every 15 minutes or so, we try to walk around the building,” he said. “[To] make sure nobody's sleeping, everyone's doing okay, everything's working properly.”
Collamer has worked for the Washoe County Library System for 19 years. Although he’s a librarian, his day-to-day often involves helping community members look for housing, apply for jobs, and navigate county services.
But Collamer’s not sure whether he’ll get to keep his job — or if he does, which of his colleagues might lose theirs.
“The unknown is nerve wracking, and it's just going to get worse over the next couple of months,” he said.
That’s because on Nov. 5, voters narrowly rejected WC-1. If it had passed, the local ballot question would have renewed critical funding for the library system.
For the last 30 years, a portion of Washoe County’s property tax revenue has gone directly to libraries, thanks to a 1994 tax override approved by voters. The funding makes up about a quarter of the library system’s budget.
But now that WC-1 has been defeated, that money will go into the general fund instead. From there, it’s up to county commissioners to decide how to spend it. So a coalition of community members is mobilizing to keep libraries funded.
For Bradley Leavitt, the funding bill’s failure was a galvanizing moment.
“At first, I was just kind of rage posting on my Instagram about it,” he said.
Growing up, Leavitt said his family didn’t have much money, so libraries were some of the only safe places where he could hang out for free. So, instead of merely expressing his frustrations online, Leavitt decided to take action.
“I was like, ‘I'm just gonna put a petition up on Reddit and see how it goes,’” he remembered. “It's blown up.”
In the last two weeks, more than 6,100 people have signed Leavitt’s petition asking county commissioners to keep libraries funded
Leavitt’s also working with Freedom to Read Nevada, the political action committee behind the yes on WC-One campaign.
Candace Powell volunteered with that effort, because she said the library helped her oldest daughter get ahead in school.
“I don't know what second graders are interested in reading. But the librarian does, and she got her really interested in books I would have never found,” she said.
Library supporters already have at least two commissioners in their corner: Democrats Mariluz Garcia and Alexis Hill both want to maintain the library’s current budget. Hill, who is chair of the county commission, secured extra funding so branches could stay open longer in 2021.
“Obviously, the funding still exists in the property tax that the county receives,” she said. “I don't know why there would be a need to cut funding of very successful programs.”
Moving forward, the challenge for supporters will be to keep that momentum going as budget conversations begin in the spring.
Meanwhile, library director Jeff Scott is already planning for potential cuts.
“If we get bankers’ hours, we'd be lucky,” he said.
According to Scott, if the funding isn’t restored, the library will have to lay off at least 23 of its 138 staff members. It’ll also mean patrons have to wait longer for book holds, and could spell the end of literacy programs in a community where many students already struggle to read at grade level.
Scott worries that could have long term impacts.
“When you start subtracting things away, you won't be able to sustain the community that you have,” he explained. “That means businesses won't come in, because they can't find workers — and you can't sustain your community because there's no place to work.”
Scott and librarians are grateful for the support from Leavitt and other library advocates. But Republican activists like Janet Butcher accuse them of seeking to overturn the will of the voters.
“The people spoke,” she said during public comment at a recent county commission meeting. “They did not want this money, after 30 years, going that way.”
Butcher is on the Washoe County GOP’s executive committee. The party campaigned against the renewal by falsely claiming it would’ve raised taxes.
But some blame the defeat on the measure itself. Nick Muzik said the way it was written made it seem like a new tax on property owners.
“It seemed like it was a higher tax that would only go to me, that wouldn't go towards anyone else,” he said.
Muzik voted against WC-1, but now regrets it. So he signed Leavitt’s petition, and he’s encouraging more people to join him.
Meanwhile, Candace Powell is putting her money where her mouth is. She recently donated the amount of her property taxes that had been going to libraries. During public comment at the last library board meeting, she encouraged others to do the same.
“Go on Zillow right now,” she said. “Check your assessed property value, and then you can do the math.”
Library director Scott welcomes donations, but they can’t make up for the lost funding. Only the county commission can do that, he said.
“Private donation isn't going to sustain what we're doing,” he said. “It doesn't make salaries. It doesn't help us plan for the future.”
