PROVINCE — The Provo City Council is considering raising taxes to help cover a city library budget deficit of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Officials warn that the library will have to cut back on services if it does not receive the additional money from the property tax increase, which amounts to just under $12 a year for the average home.

“Without this money, we cannot maintain our current level of service,” said Carla Gordon, director of the Provo library.

A “Truth in Taxation” hearing was scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m., where voters could voice their opinions before the City Council voted on whether or not to raise taxes.

On Tuesday, Provo City Councilor George Handley told KSL TV that he supported the tax increase.

“What we’re charging this year is roughly equivalent to the price of a movie ticket,” Handley said, but acknowledged that it’s difficult for some people on fixed incomes.

But so far, he said, the city council has received consistently positive feedback from residents on the proposed tax increase.

“I have never received more emails on any issue in six and a half years,” Handley said, “and I have never seen such disproportionate support for one issue.”

Aside from a much smaller tax increase last year, Handley said the library has had to operate on essentially the same budget since it opened in 2001 in the old Brigham Young Academy building – with no significant increases to account for inflation.

“When we look closely at the library’s budget – its expenses – we don’t see any waste. We don’t see any unnecessary things,” Handley said. “We don’t see any real way out in the form of fee increases. We can only close the gap that we currently have by this method.”

In fact, the library has already cut its budget, Gordon said.

“We’ve cut some of our streaming services,” she said. “We’ve cut some hoped-for raises and things like that.”

If the tax increase is not approved, Gordon said the library would have to close its art exhibition rooms in the attic and its creative lab in the basement and also lay off some employees.

She hopes it won’t come to that.

“Do we hope to find more ways to be frugal? Yes, always,” Gordon said. “But inflation hits everyone at some point.”

Provo City Councilman Travis Hoban was the only person to vote against holding a hearing on the tax increase for the library in June. Hoban did not respond to a request from KSL for comment on his position on the tax increase on Tuesday.