Library seeks levy renewal

FINDLAY — The Findlay-Hancock County Public Library is looking to renew an expiring five-year operating levy on the May 6 primary ballot.The 0.5-mill request is a continuation of the same rate the library has been operating under since voters first approved the levy in 2010. For property located within the library's district, a home valued at $100,000 pays $12 a year.The county auditor estimates that the levy for next year will generate $875,000 annually, according to library Director Sarah Clevidence.The levy was initially passed in 2010 and renewed in 2015 and 2020, she said.The library's 0.5-mill operating levy was first approved by voters in May 2010 to offset a loss of about $725,000 annually when the state cut library funding in 2009, she said. Hours were reduced at the Findlay and Arlington libraries due to the funding cut.The levy revenue allowed the libraries to return to full operations."So this will be our third renewal and they've all just been renewals," Clevidence said. "This levy generates about the same amount it did when it was initially passed."The tax doesn't grow with inflation or increased property values, she noted."Your cost for the levy doesn't increase. In fact the effective millage rate decreases to balance that out so that it's a half a mill levy," she said. "This is no new money. This is the same money we've been getting from the community since 2010."Clevidence explained that in Ohio, House Bill 920 and the property tax reduction factor mean that voted millage like the library levy does not grow with inflation."We don't want more money. We want the same money they've been giving us," she said.Levy funds represented about 22% of the library's revenue in 2024, she said."We would never want to say that libraries in Ohio are well funded because we are receiving the same state funding that we did 25 years ago with no growth for inflation," said Clevidence. "We're kind of in advocacy time with the state biennial budget now. We're really trying to make sure our legislators understand the importance of the state budget. But we also want to make sure everyone in Hancock County has the facts about the levy."And she wants to make sure people understand that this renewal is not for a new building project."That question comes up every time, ever since the first one came around," she said. "These are operating dollars. This is just to operate the library."Clevidence said library levies in Ohio do well — in the last 15 years, levy requests have over a 90% passage rate."Every time it's passed we have been so grateful to the community that they see what we do here, that they appreciate resources they value and that they want to make those a priority for our community," she said.The library circulated over 1 million items last year, had nearly 210,000 visitors, answered over 78,000 questions and offered over 1,000 programs attended by over 56,000 patrons."Our patrons really value being able to use the library," Clevidence said. "Digital is an important piece of our circulation, but it's only a piece. We circulated more physical items for youth than we did digital items for all ages."The library is also the local program partner for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Last year, 2,507 Hancock County children enrolled in the program received 30,919 books. The local expense is fully funded by the library's endowment fund now, she said.The library worked under a very tight budget last year, she said.In 2008, the General Assembly established the Public Library Fund at 2.22% of the state's General Revenue Fund. Since then, the percentage has been reduced and is currently set at 1.7%, according to the Ohio Library Council."It's dispersed to all 88 counties. And then within the counties, it's divided among the libraries that serve that county," she said.The local library gets the largest portion of the Hancock County dollars, but McComb also receives some and then Bluffton, Ada, Forest-Jackson, Fostoria and Hardin Northern all get bits of Hancock County's funds as well, said Clevidence.The vast majority of the library's expenditures are for salaries and benefits, and buying new materials to loan, she said. The remainder goes to things like utilities and programs."It's a pretty tight budget so there's just not a lot of wiggle room. And we look at our operating expenses from year to year. So if we didn't have the levy dollars, we would have to make cuts to the salaries and benefits, and materials," she said.Those cuts would mean a reduction in operating hours for the library, while a reduction in materials translates into patrons having to wait longer to get items, she said.