The Delaware County District Library is asking voters to support a tax hike for its five-branch system to help improve access and services and to upgrade its buildings.
Voters will decide May 6 on a new 15-year, 1-mill property tax levy that would generate about $10.5 million annually and cost $35 per $100,000 of property valuation set by each county auditor. The library district includes all of Delaware County and small portions of neighboring Franklin, Marion, Morrow and Union counties.
Currently, property owners are paying $17.67 per $100,000 in valuation on a 1-mill levy passed in 2009 — the county’s first-ever library levy — that was later renewed for 15 years.
The original levy cost residents $31 per $100,000. But due to the property tax reduction factor, which reduces the individual tax burden when the tax base increases in a taxing district, it now costs $17.67. It would run concurrently with the proposed levy and would cost taxpayers a total of $52.67 per $100,000 of property valuation.
“We’ve had massive growth in Delaware County,” library spokesperson Nicole Fowles said. “We’re servicing 220% more people with the same pot of money we asked for in 2009.”
According to the library, its existing millage and cost per $100,000 are lower than other systems, including Worthington (4.8 mills/$168), Columbus Metropolitan (4.3 mills/$139), Westerville (2.75 mills/$70) and Marysville (1.5 mills/$53).
The library system has more than 100,000 cardholders and has grown by 9% since 2023. With voter approval, library officials plan to return to voters again in 2033 and 2040.
As part of its master plan, the library district conducted surveys, focus groups, meetings and interviews with residents.
“And the top thing the public told us is that they wanted us to expand our operating hours,” Fowles said.
The libraries are closed Sundays, and current hours (10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays) would lengthen with levy approval. Exact hours have not been decided, Fowles said. The Powell and Ostrander branches are also closed Mondays.
“The new hours would fill gaps in education, especially filling that pre-K gap,” Fowles said.
The levy would allow for more weekend and evening story times for children and other programs for adults. Some visitors have asked for notaries, passport services, and increased availability of popular book titles. The library also wants to add pickup lockers so customers may retrieve items placed on hold when the library is closed.
Building upgrades are expected at the Delaware, Ostrander and Powell branches with more study rooms, Fowles said. Those branches haven’t seen upgrades since about 1993, when they were built.
The levy is among the first to face voters after the Ohio Legislature threatened to cut funding for libraries. Lawmakers on April 8 reversed their stance on cuts, saying libraries would get increased funding, just not tied to a set percentage of state revenues as in the past.
Fowles said the state reprieve still keeps funding in limbo.
“We still have a long road to go before the state budget is finished,” she said. “We just want people to focus on our levy because it’s the most direct impact someone can do to support their library. Once May 6 passes, we will direct our focus to the state Legislature and restoring the public library fund as a percentage of the budget.”
Library Director Bryan Howard said the funding is currently 1.7 % of Ohio’s general revenue, from which Delaware’s libraries receive about a third of their budget, or about $3 million.
“I know our patrons deserve the best library system we can provide,” Howard wrote in a newsletter to the public. He asked residents to review and use the library plans as “the road map that a new levy will take to get us there.”
Northern suburbs and Delaware County reporter Dean Narciso can be reached at dnarciso@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Delaware County library officials seek May 6 tax hike approval