‘Yes on Library Tax’ News

Greg Lyman (left) and Charles Taylor launched the initiative campaign in May 2025.

About five months of signature gathering ended Nov. 20 when supporters of a new library tax submitted what they believe are enough signatures to get their initiative on the ballot in 2026.

According to Greg Lyman, a leader of the effort, supporters turned in petitions containing 2,468 signatures to the city. To qualify their initiative for the ballot, they must submit valid signatures from 10 percent of the registered voters in El Cerrito, or about 1,780 valid signatures.

The next step is for the City Clerk to determine how many signatures are valid. Problems can include not being city residents, not being registered voters, not signing one’s correct legal name, and signing more than once. However, the signature amount is more than 30 percent over the minimum needed.

“We are hopeful we have a sufficient number of signatures to allow us to move to the next phase,” said Lyman. “I am grateful for all the volunteers who collected signatures and the voters who signed the petitions. We deserve and need a new modern library.”

Once the city confirms that enough valid signatures have been provided to qualify, the City Council will vote on when to place the measure on the ballot.

Lyman is the author of the initiative measure. He is also a former City Council member and mayor. He is treasurer of the Committee for a Plaza Station Library in El Cerrito and has campaigned for years for construction of a new library on the ground floor of a planned apartment building in the Plaza BART Transit Oriented Development.

He restated his support of a Plaza station library on Nov. 21, but added that he expects the City Council to decide where the new library will go, and that will happen at a public meeting.

While the library tax initiative does not state where a new library must be built, building a library at El Cerrito Plaza is one of the goals in the city’s strategic plan. Four of the five City Council members have stated they support the project.

The most recent campaign committee statement filed for the Committee for a Plaza Station Library documents activity between July 1, 2025 and Sept. 30, 2025.

In the three-month period which ended Sept. 30, the committee raised $14,175 in cash and spent $9,420 including $2,430 in previously unpaid bills. It ended the period with a cash balance of about $6,000.

In this calendar year to date, it raised $16,415 and spent $24,465, according to the campaign statement.

The following donations over $200 were received in the last filing period.

·         El Cerrito Library Foundation, $5,800

·         Friends of the El Cerrito Library, $1,800

·         East Bay Sanitary, $2,500

·         Tom Panas, $2,500

·         Paul Fadelli, $1,000

·         Laura Lent, $400

Payments went to Jarvis Fay LLP, an Oakland-based law firm; S.E. Owens & Co., an Oakland-based accounting firm; and The Tucker Group, a Pleasant Hill-based public relations company.

The full campaign report is here.

If the library tax initiative is placed on the ballot in 2026 and wins, it will authorize a tax of 17 cents per square foot of improved building area per year for a new library. That amounts to $255 per year on a 1,500-square-foot house. The tax could be increased annually by the City Council based on a cost-of-living index.

The full initiative language from May 9, 2025, is posted here. The measure was changed and republished after Attorney Jason Bezis challenged some of the language of the ballot measure summary. If a more current link is provided, we will add it.