Residents of Port Orchard will be voting this summer on whether they want to be a part of the Kitsap Regional Library system.

And depending on how that turns out, they could be voting again in the fall on KRL’s latest levy request.

The Port Orchard City Council on Tuesday night agreed unanimously to authorize a ballot measure for the Aug. 17 primary election regarding annexation into the library district. But despite the sub-plot of KRL’s impending levy lid lift attempt, the council members went to great lengths to make it clear their vote was simply to give Port Orchard residents a voice in the matter, not to endorse either annexation or the levy.

“This is only to let the people vote on whether they want to be in the library district,” said Councilman Jim Colebank. “That’s plain and simple and I can support that.”

“It’s a great opportunity for our citizens to have a say in the library’s operations,” agreed Councilman John Clauson.

Like the rest of Kitsap County, KRL currently provides library services for Port Orchard. But the city is not a formal, voting member of the system.

Instead, Port Orchard contracts with the agency. Last year, the city wrote KRL a check for $373,000.

The main organizational difference between membership and non-membership is that, in member communities, KRL takes its cut directly from property tax revenues.

For a non-member such as Port Orchard, the city will collect the property taxes, then pay the library district out of the proceeds.

One less-than-subtle difference property owners could notice should the city decide to annex, however, is that their total property tax could increase somewhat — regardless of whether KRL’s levy request is successful during the November general election.

By law, the city could continue to collect property taxes at the previous rate, even though it would no longer be paying a portion of that money to the library district.

Or it could reduce its collections to offset what property owners would be charged by the library district.

At this point, however, the council hasn’t decided which direction to take.

“It could stay the same, or it could go down,” said Port Orchard Mayor Lary Coppola. “There are some on the council who want one thing, and some who want the other. I really have no idea what will happen.”

Presumably the council would answer that question prior to Aug. 17, so the voters would know how the outcome of the annexation vote would affect their property tax bill.

“That’s a discussion we need to have sooner rather than later,” Clauson said, “so that the voters do know in fact what they’re voting on.”

“It’s my intent for this to be revenue-neutral for our citizens,” said Councilman Rob Putaansuu. “The 32 cents we’re currently collecting will collected instead by the county and given to the library district.”

“There’s a gap that we could possibly take advantage of,” said Councilman Fred Olin, “but that’s not going to happen while I’m on this council. It will never get my vote unless our citizens vote themselves an increase.”

Meanwhile, in a not-unrelated development, Coppola said he and the library district were engaged in productive discussions by which Port Orchard would stand to reap more benefits from KRL should its levy pass in November.

Under the plan unveiled by the library district last week, the agency would annually collect an additional $138,000 from Port Orchard and $650,000 from unincorporated areas in South Kitsap.

Over the ensuing decade, South Kitsap taxpayers would pay about $7.9 million in additional taxes to the library district, but only $750,000 of that amount would be spent on capital improvements to the Port Orchard library and $400,000 for the Manchester library.

By contrast, a similar amount of tax revenue would be collected from Central Kitsap, but $7.75 million would be spent for a new library in Silverdale.

Coppla characterized that arrangement as an “insult” and urged the KRL board to come up with something more equitable — particularly if Port Orchard residents would soon be voting in district elections.

“We’re still working on it,” he said Tuesday night. “But we’re getting close to an agreement that makes more sense for this community.”