Library levies, making up significant parts of operating budgets, head for Ohio November ballots

(Getty Images).

Ohio’s libraries are back on the ballot this November, hoping for new or continued support from their communities, with levies that represent major parts of their programming, building and materials budgets.

“We refer to it as ‘keep the lights on’ money,” said Aimee Fifarek, director and CEO of The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.

The 14-branch network is one of 27 public library systems in Ohio that will have measures on the November general election ballot. According to the Ohio Library Council, those issues include four additional or new levies, one renewal with an increase, one replacement with an increase, five straight replacement levies and one bond issue.

The funding requests range from Forest-Jackson Public Library and Milton-Union Public Library’s 0.7-mill levies to Youngstown’s 2.4-mill levy. The Toledo Lucas County Library District is asking for a 30-year, $153 million bond.

Youngstown and Mahoning County’s branch libraries sit among multiple regions of the state, from communities who relied on GM’s Lordstown plant for their livelihood, to affluent Poland and the Appalachian village of Sebring. Helping bring life to the community through nutrition programs, increasing literacy projects, job training possibilities and the rest of the roles of the public library plays into Fifarek’s faith that the area will come back around.

“We’re not growing right now, and we haven’t been for quite a while, but we have amazing potential around here, and we’re getting to the point where there is enough belief in our community … to make something happen,” Fifarek said.

Almost half of the cost of the programs and facilities the library uses comes straight from property owners: 46% of the library budget comes from a 2.4-mill levy up for renewal this November, according to the library.

The levy has been in effect since 2019, and costs homeowners $7 per month for every $100,000 in property value, to generate about $10 million per year.

The money that the library hopes to keep in the five-year renewal levy helps support their mobile “pop up library,” customized programming in each of the library branches, along with a future that could come about after a strategic facility master plan, studying the areas housing, broadband accessibility and other issues to see where the library could target funds, as Fifarek told the OCJ.

The other large portion of the library system’s budget, 49%, comes from the state’s General Revenue Fund through the Public Library Fund.

But libraries throughout the state have been struggling to account for a loss in that funding, leading some to ask for bigger levies, and some to put cuts in place over the years. According to the Ohio Library Council, the Public Library Fund has seen a $25 million year-to-date loss as of September 2024, a continuing trend from 2022, when the year-to-date loss was more than 5%, or $20 million.

Funds going to public libraries could also face more threats if legislation that was introduced in June goes through before the General Assembly ends its term in December. Republican state Rep. Al Cutrona’s House Bill 622 would take away state funding at any public library that displays matter considered “harmful to juveniles” under the state’s broad definition.

The Granville Public Library saw the effects of the loss in PLF funds, while also watching the costs of goods and services rise every year as well. Those changes in funding and cost emphasized the importance of community support through a levy, according to Emily Shellhouse, the director for the Granville library.

“If we had no levy, then we would have to have some pretty significant services cuts, probably extending to cutting the days that we’re open, decreasing programming, decreasing our materials budget,” Shellhouse said.

The library serves about 15,000 people, located in the same boundaries as the local school district, and often providing study space or place for students to go after school. Their children’s department sees steady activity, and they’ve made changes that seem simple, but added value just the same as technology and materials changed.

“One of the things we needed was plugs, people needed to charge their devices,” Shellhouse said.

The library in the heart of the Central Ohio village currently has a 1-mill levy on the books, which represents about 40% of the library budget. Even keeping the levy at 1 mill would mean “we would have to look at tightening our belts,” the director said.

Luckily, the community has showed their support in the past, which Shellhouse is optimistic will extend to the 1.25-mill renewal and increase set to appear before voters this November.

“We do have a lot of support for keeping the library and wanting it to stay in the community,” she said.

The future of the library means evolving technology and community outreach, possibly more mobile library services, and further services to people like the homebound and those in nursing home facilities.

“The needs of our community have changed,” Shellhouse said. “For some people, it’s harder to get to the library, so we want to be able to expand our outreach, maybe bring our own space.”

Some libraries already approached voters for levies in the March primary, with five of the seven libraries receiving approval. All the approvals came with support of 57% or more.