El Cerrito is moving forward with plans to place a new library tax on the ballot. The city is trying to keep itself at arm’s length by having former Councilmember Greg Lyman be the face of the measure. But make no mistake—El Cerrito is behind the scenes, pulling the levers. At first glance, the cost sounds small—”$300 per year” doesn’t seem too bad—until you look at how the tax is structured and how it grows over time. Here’s what the measure really looks like once you break it down in plain English.
📊 Quick Facts
Year 1 Payment: $300 Year 30 Payment: $1,256 Average Homeowner’s 30-Year Total: $19,452 Total Citywide Collections Over 30 Years: $194.5 million
Why Does the Tax Keep Growing?
The tax includes an indexing clause. Each year, your tax will automatically increase by whichever is higher:
Bay Area Consumer Price Index (cost of living), or California Per Capita Personal Income Growth. Both are official government statistics, but the key detail is this: the tax rises every single year, always by the higher number. Looking back at the last 30 years, California income growth has usually outpaced Bay Area inflation—so that’s the number that drives the increase most of the time.
The Compounding Effect
From 1995 to 2024, the average increase of these indices was about 5% per year—much higher than standard inflation.
In 72% of those years, California income growth was the higher index. At a steady 5% increase, the tax more than quadruples in 30 years. That’s why the $300 starting tax grows into $1,256 by Year 30. This isn’t just adding up—it’s compounding, the same way interest grows on a loan or investment.
What This Means for You
This isn’t a flat $300 tax. It’s structured to grow year after year, and faster than normal inflation.
The average El Cerrito homeowner will pay nearly $20,000 over 30 years. Citywide, the tax will generate almost $200 million. And importantly: the tax applies whether or not a new library ever gets built.
Bottom Line
The proposed El Cerrito library tax may start small, but over time it becomes a significant financial commitment. For homeowners, it’s nearly $20,000 out of pocket. For the city, it’s close to $200 million in guaranteed revenue.
Protect your household budget. Don’t sign the petition that’s circulating, and when the measure appears on the November 2026 ballot, vote no.
If you agree, like and share this post on your social media and with friends.
This blog was heavily influenced by concerned citizens who reviewed the numbers and raised questions about the long-term costs.
El Cerrito Committee for Responsible Government (ECCRG) 
Yes Greg Lyman is a dangerous political hack and is working with the City of El Cerrito, the CCC Library system & CCC Supervisor Gioia, and the affordable housing developer Halladay who is the lead partner with the City of El Cerrito on the TOD C West building construction that will house the proposed CCC El Cerrito branch library, City of El Cerrito community center, El Cerrito senior center, to misrepresent the facts and mislead voters – SENIORS. How pathetic enticing them with all the false statements about a “senior center”. He had the audacity to prey on seniors at the Eskaton Senior Center on San Pablo (see attached poster) and make numerous statements about the TOD affordable apartment complex that is called C West in all the City of El Cerrito presentations and senior center plans of which he has no authority to make public statements about almost everything is the attached presentation.
Please inform your readers that: 1) The City of El Cerrito has no operating library or library function or any decision making about the “library” that is operating in its current location 2) The CCC Library system has 26 branch libraries operated by CCC and funded by all CCC residents ad valorem secured property taxes of 1.5% of the !% property value as stated on the secured property tax bill 3) The ONLY financial contribution to the CCC El Cerrito library branch the City can make is to fund additional operating hours. Each branch is guaranteed 40 hours of open library staffed and managed and paid by CCC and all County property taxpayers 4) No donations are accepted by any local library branch in either cash or IN KIND DONATIONS like BOOKS Full stop 5) The CCC library system is EGALITARIAN system. All branches are treated similarly. Can you imagine if the CCC library branches in Lafayette or Orinda or Walnut Creek could donate money or books and how that would consume the resources of the County library and put wealthy communities ahead of much less affluent West County communities. Book collections are EXCLUSIVELY selected by the County Library specialists. All books are catalogued in the system and shared by CCC with other library systems. So you should NEVER hear about some book donations to a CCC branch library system unless the library system makes a CONSCIOUS decision to accept the responsibility and cost of adding volumns to local collections that BY LAW have to be shared with every CCC branch library. 6) The ONLY responsibility the City of El Cerrito has is to provide a City owned building to operate the CCC library EC branch in and maintain the library facility FULL STOP 7) CCC currently leases 6,400 sq ft from the City owned building and land where the library is now operating 8) Moving the library to the proposed 20,000 sq ft space raises the question “how much space will CCC be leasing from the City in its newly constructed and City owned condominium” ? All 20,000 sq ft or 6,400 sq ft from its current location, or something else. 9) If all 20,000 sq ft is leased by CCC then how could the City possibly operate a “senior center” if CCC is the lessee and controls access to the building and is only open during library hours – 40 hours week? 10) There will need to be separate ingress/egress in any case for the library space and the 100 or more residents living above the library. If the City is going to operate Community Center activities at all hours then the City will have to separate the ingress/egress for that space as well
Please dive into these issues. Any presentation by Lyman should require the presence of a City Council member, the County Librarian, CCC Supervisor Gioia, and Halladay the Developer partner with the City of El Cerrito and condo owner (the City and Halladay et al will need to enter into a HOA agreement as well).
Pro TOD Plaza Library slides (1).zip https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IZ6IPdIg_cpXeQ9b-kK_mGKzeEs8vnKh/view?usp=drive_web
On Wed, Sep 10, 2025 at 12:51â¯AM El Cerrito Committee for Responsib
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