The entirety of our funding for every operating expense we incur (e.g. supplies, utilities, salaries, digital and physical materials, etc.) comes from .25% of the available sales tax revenue that is generated and collected when people shop, buy, eat or purchase services from businesses that are physically located within our district boundaries. The sales tax cap on goods and services in Texas is 8.25 cents on each dollar spent and the State of Texas receives 6.25 cents (75%). The library receives a total of 1/4 of 1 cent from the remaining 2 cents of sales tax collected on every dollar spent within our district boundaries. For example, If you spend $25 at one of our local businesses, the library receives 6.25 cents of the $2.06 of sales tax collected on your purchase.
This remaining 2 cents, which is reserved for local use, is allocated by the Comptroller’s Office to cities, counties, or any of the 461 special purpose districts (e.g. municipal development, emergency services, crime control, hospital, and library) that receive a percentage of sales tax collected within their legally determined boundaries. The Comptroller then distributes the appropriate amount of sales tax for each entity, including our library district, following a monthly schedule. However, that monthly disbursement payment is not for the current calendar month, but for two months ago. For example, the January 2025 sales tax disbursement for the library is our share of the sales tax revenue collected in our library district in November 2024.
While the entire City of Liberty Hill is physically part of our library district, we are not part of the city structure and receive no funding from the City of Liberty Hill. We also are not part of or receive any funding from Williamson County. Our library district only receives operating revenue from sales tax and any other type of tax that is collected such as property or fuel. Your library and all our local businesses benefit when our community shops, buys, eats, and uses local services. Spending money for goods and services in our community strengthens our local economy and it also supports the library.
Importance of Sales Tax to Library District Funding
Out of over 500 public libraries in Texas, only 15 are library districts, including Liberty Hill Public Library District. It is thanks to the hard work of Westbank Community Library, which resulted in Governor George W. Bush signing Senate Bill 1674 into law in 1997 (Texas Local Government Code, Title 10, Subtitle B, Chapter 326, Subchapters A-E) that library districts could be formed in Texas. With the passage of this legislation, Texas joined 22 other states that permit some form of taxation to directly fund public libraries. The Texas legislation allows communities to vote and decide to dedicate a specific percentage of their own sales tax revenue to fund library services through the creation and establishment of local library districts. This sales tax funding, once approved, can only be used to fund the library and its operation and is always dedicated to providing this service.
With their vote, taxpayers are saying that local issues are important to them and that they want to fund this specific service for their own community. Another benefit is that library districts that receive direct funding from sales tax do not have to compete for funding with other important governmental services at the city or county level. The district model also affords us optimal flexibility in serving our community while condensing the line of accountability between constituents, library administration, and library governance.
Transparency and the Special Purpose District Information Database (SPPID)
Since 2021, Liberty Hill Public Library District is required to file yearly reports that are uploaded into the Special Purpose District Information Database. You can search for our reports using our name.