Did you read in newspaper recently about SC libraries financial troubles? In order to keep the libraries open, I would be willing to pay $1 a year for my library card. Thoughts anyone?
This is a Maricopa County issue about the budget troubles for the two libraries located in Sun City. I hope something can be worked out between the RCSC, MC Library District and Clint Hickman(our county rep). We can't just add an amount to our card as this is a public library. I wouldn't mind part of our RCSC funds being used to cover the lease because there are many Sun City residents who only use the library because they are unable to use the other facilities because of physical limitations. I'd hate to have to start driving to Surprise or Glendale again to pick up materials. Contacting all three parties would be the best action to take at this point and let them know what you think.
Here's the problem with funding our Sun City libraries. Funding must be increased to the library system: Levy 2009 $20,194,740 2010 $20,001,523 2011 $18,844,894 2012 $16,817,198 2013 $14,083,341 What needs to happen is everyone in Maricopa County should pay 10 cents more on their property tax to fund the library system. The property owners in Sun City already pay for the libraries in their property tax and also the annual property assessment. There are many in our county that as residents can use the two libraries in our RCSC Centers but pay nothing toward the financing. I'm not in favor of any increase in the RCSC annual assessment to offset what could be paid by others that pay nothing. Keep in mind that there are probably 1000's that live as residents of Sun City but they live in property that is tax exempt because it is a religious-owned property. They pay no property tax to offset county and fire district taxes.
That really didn't answer my question. However, I am presuming that the churches provide condos for their clergy. Would that be the religious-owned property? But, thousands?????
Churches do buy properties and then rent them to make money. Its one reason many people believe churches should pay taxes like other businesses. But unlike other non profits, churches are not required to show records to anyone....even the IRS. You might be able to see which properties paid 0 taxes the year before. Seems like a bit of work to find them.
Perhaps someone could correct me if I'm wrong, but are Sun Valley Lodge, Lifestream(formerly Baptist Village) and Royal Oaks paying any property taxes for our Library or Fire District? Just these 3 facilities account for nearly 800 residents in our district. I agree it is difficult to trace back ownership and taxes assessed.
According to the Maricopa county GIS system the last time Sun Valley Lodge paid property taxes was in 1993, since then a big zero. Same for Royal Oaks, zero taxes for many years.
There's way more about this story and it just isn't in Sun City AZ. Here's an article from a Google news feed I found a few weeks back where the state of Missouri was fighting with non-profit church communities over taxation issues: "Tax exemption battles continue, focusing on distinctions between what might be “nonprofit” by federal tax status and what might be “charitable” by function. The debate in Missouri is whether “high end” nonprofit retirement communities should be granted property tax exemptions. State legislation sponsored by Republican state legislator Mike Leara reauthorizes property tax exemptions for schools and religious organizations, but adds an explicit authorization of tax exemptions for “residential facilities for the aged owned by an organization that is exempt” under the federal tax code." You can read the rest of the article here.
They are religious organizations. They do not pay property taxes. http://www.azpolicy.org/bill-tracker/church-property-tax-exemptions-hb-2281 Apparently renting churches used to pay but AZ just changed that law too and renters no longer pay. But you can't really find out anything about churches unless they want you to since they are not required to file the 990 form that other non-profits must file. Some churches do file 990s so they can run 401 retirement plans, but most do not.
My focus is on people/corporations that reside in Sun City or within our fire district that pay no taxes. The property owners that pay taxes and that have donated to Friends of the Library have paid triple for library services. Once through property taxes, once through their annual RCSC assessment and then any donation to Friends of the Library because they just paid $65,000 to Maricopa County to cover Bell Library's rent through the end of the year. The whole Banner Health System with all their property holdings may also be exempt from property taxes. Not sure on that one.
If interested go to http://gis.maricopa.gov/ Click on parcels and zoom in to the area you want and click the parcel. In the upper left corner you can click the parcel selected and a pop up will give you tax info. You may find way more information on people and companies than you ever wanted to know. BTW - Anything with the Banner/Boswell name on it does not pay taxes. However Sun Heath did, not sure how all that works. Even looked up a property we had looked at... they are in trouble and in tax default.
It's important to start asking now about what the budget for the Sun City Libraries will be for 2014-15 and how much the RCSC will have to come up with to offset any rent money the County will no longer pay. There doesn't seem to be anything online that specifically addresses the amount of expense for these two libraries either at the MCLDAZ or RCSC. The next RCSC Board/Member Exchange is Monday May 12, 9 a.m. at Lakeview. Our Supervisor Clint Hickman can be contacted by email at chickman@mail.maricopa.gov
It's no secret aggie, the county was paying the RCSC around 130k for the two libraries. That amount will no longer be paid in 2015. That said, a brief look back is in order. Prior to the county taking over running Bell (and opening Fairway), the Friends of the library did it and there was no rental paid to the RCSC at Bell by them. The net of the agreement was the RCSC got 5 years of monies they never had and the Friends got out from under the cost of trying to run the library on limited resources. The antiquated card system was replaced by the County and library usage increased several fold (to say nothing about the ease of access for folks south of Grand Ave). Ultimately the RCSC could have told the library to pound salt and pay up or take a hike. When we saw the numbers of Sun City residents who used the two libraries, it was clear having them was a plus across the board. We looked at it as any other amenity we have in Sun City and it was far to valuable to loose. Hope that helps.
I guess we're back to the fact that this is a Maricopa County budget problem and RCSC cardholders must pay the price. Some county branches of the library are open all evenings, most Saturdays and some even open on Sundays. It will be a hard sell to increase the RCSC assessments over this $130,000 loss of rental and also covering all utility expenses for the two Sun City Branch libraries. How much will just this expense increase our assessment? $3, $5, $8....more? Maybe the hours at the Bell Branch should be cut back to match the Fairway hours to save expenses.
Cutting the hours back saves the RCSC no money aggie; the county simply reduces its operating expense. You can do the math and it comes in somewhere between $4 and $5 per year. The reality is the RCSC juggles budgets yearly dependent on what is going on and what needs more or less funding. For the naysayers, Sun City West has been increasing their yearly budget somewhere in the neighborhood of 5% per year (sometimes more) while in the past two years we have increased the lot assessment 50 cents per month each year. I'll do the math on that one: Sun City West is $800+ at 5% = $40 a year...the RCSC at .50 per month = $6 per year. And for the record, their library is still run by the Friends of the Library, not the county. The fact of the matter is Sun City is more than judicious with our operating budgets and always mindful of how difficult is for some Sun City residents to get by. And of course there is always the SC Foundation to help those who have out lived their resources.
