Over $2 Million Raised in Fiscal Year 2022 by Special Tax to Fund Pasadena Libraries

The City of Pasadena collected a total of $2,845,175 during the fiscal year 2021-22 in Library Special Tax funds that are used to finance the maintenance and operation costs of the Pasadena Library System.

The table above shows the detailed FY2022 report from Tim McDonald, Acting Director of Libraries and Information Services.

Pasadena voters, in June 1993, decided to save the Pasadena Public Library’s existing services and operations by approving a Special Library Tax.

The Special Library Parcel Tax was passed in 1993 with 79.9% support and has since been renewed three times.

In 1997, it passed with 84% of the vote, and in 2007, it was again supported with 80.4% of the vote. Most recently, the Library Special Tax was renewed in the General Municipal Election on November 8, 2022, receiving the support of 84.6% of voters. This vote secured funding of the library’s operating budget for the next 15 years.

Under Senate Bill 165, the Local Agency Special Tax and Bond Accountability Act enacted in 2000, the City is required to file an annual report containing specified information about the use of the special tax.

The Act requires that the report “shall mention the amount of funds collected and expended” and the status of any project funded by the special tax.