One of the four ballot issues Oxford residents will vote on this Nov. 5 will be whether or not to renew Lane Library’s 0.75-mill continuous operating levy.
According to the Lane Libraries Fall 2024 newsletter, the yearly cost of the levy for the owner of a $100,000 home is about $22.97, or less than two dollars a month. Renewing the levy will not change that cost for community members served by the library.
“With this being a renewal, we’re not asking for any more money; we’re asking to just continue with what we have,” said Carrie Mancuso, public relations manager for the library. “It maintains our budget as it exists.”
Public libraries in Ohio receive funding from the state’s Public Library Fund (PLF). The fund currently receives 1.7% of the state’s tax revenue each month, according to the Ohio Library Council.
Robert Carringer, retired fiscal officer for Lane Libraries and campaign treasurer for this year’s levy renewal, said the levy was first introduced to offset cuts to the library fund.
“Previously, when I first started at the library back in 2008, it was 2.2%,” Carringer said. “Back in 2008 they cut funding about 30% and we put a levy on, and the levy generates about 30% of our revenues today.”
The levy was first introduced in 2010 and renewed in 2015. If it is renewed in November, Carringer said the levy will be continuous and therefore extended indefinitely. He said that the library still receives about 70% of its funding from the state.
Mancuso said the levy is especially important for keeping the library’s outreach programs well-funded. She specifically emphasized the importance of the Bookmobile program, which brings books to places like nursing homes, retirement facilities, schools and daycares.
“A lot of that kind of programming is made possible by the funding that we receive from these levy dollars,” Mancuso said. “This is an operating levy so this money, it really is spread out for the health of the whole library.”
Oxford Branch Manager Rebecca Smith said her branch’s current location, completed in 2015, has been the greatest benefit of the levy to the Oxford community.
“With the levy, we were able to maintain this building and offer better services through it,” she said. “For example, it’s much larger, we’ve added additional meeting rooms, study rooms that are very popular, a drive through. So, a much better building for our community than the one that was on the corner of Walnut and College.”
Mancuso said the new building also better served the unique needs of Oxford that were missing at the previous location.
“That building specifically, really serves the college community better as well, with so many study areas” she said. “So, we were able to meet the needs of a population that we really couldn’t help hardly, in that regard, at all prior to building the building.”
Mancuso also added that although the construction of the building was funded primarily through gift funds, the expanded programming and improved programming spaces were made possible in part by the revenue from the levy.
When the levy was last renewed almost a decade ago, it passed easily with 78% of the vote. Oxford voters were the most supportive of any of the cities or townships that voted on the levy then. 98% of Oxford voters voted in favor of the tax levy.
While Mancuso said she had no prediction for what the result may be in November, she said she was confident that the community would continue to be supportive of its libraries.
“I would never expect anything, but I would certainly hope for the result to be good,” Mancuso said. “Being a tight-knit community has always been good to the library system and we like to think that it’s a symbiotic relationship. We provide the community with the things they need and they provide the support for us to continue doing that.”
