Pass: 130025 / 80.33% Yes votes ...... 31835 / 19.67% No votes

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Summary Prepared by The League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area:

This tax levy renewal continues a tax of 1 mill on residential and commercial property in Hamilton County for a ten year term. The purpose of the levy is to provide funding for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, including staffing, operating costs, and facilities maintenance.

The levy would produce $181 million over ten years beginning in fiscal year 2015 or approximately $18.1 million per year. The owner of a house with a market value of $100,000 would pay approximately $30 a year, the same as currently paid.

Under Ohio law, the Hamilton County Commissioners were required to place this issue on the ballot after the governing board of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County voted to place this ten-year levy before voters in November 2013.

Impartial Analysis from The League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area

If the levy passes, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (PLCHC) will use the levy funds to help fund basic operating expenses and maintenance of the Library facilities and to replace some of the lost state revenues.

The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, organized in 1853, was the nation's first metropolitan, county-wide library. It is governed by a 7-member Board of Trustees appointed by the Board of County Commissioners and the Common Pleas judges. The Library Board is responsible for all budgetary and operational decisions, overseeing establishment of all library branches and disposing of special funds such as endowments and grants. The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County consists of the Main Library in downtown Cincinnati and 40 branch libraries.

The library serves over half a million cardholders. The Library provides online computers to help people find jobs, access data and do schoolwork. It also maintains library services for seniors.

The Library's primary source of funding for its annual budget are state taxes from the State Public Library Fund, making up 62% and another 31% comes from the Hamilton County property tax levy, 1st passed in 2009. Other sources of revenue to the Library include contributions, fines & fees, restricted grants and investment return from endowments. Ohio public libraries are funded by the Public Library Fund (PLF) which receives 1.67% of the State's General Revenue Fund tax collections. The decline in this source of funding necessitated the 1-mill levy passed in 2009 and the need to renew that 1-mill levy in 2013. In 2000, the Library received $53.1 million in state funding. In 2013, that amount is estimated to be $36.1 million.

The 10 year PLCHC levy will enable the Library to better long term plan and continue operating costs below the state average.

Hamilton County Auditor

• What will this levy cost me? - Information from the Auditor is available for all proposed tax levies in Hamilton County. Go to the website to find your property information. Then click on "Levy Info" on the left side of the page.

• Request your Absentee Ballot - If you plan to vote by mail this election, you must request a ballot be sent to your home. Download the Vote By Mail Application from the Board of Elections website.

League of Women Voters

• Video from the annual LWVCA Issues Forum held September 25, 2013:
  Issue 1: Hamilton County Tax Levy Renewal - Public Library.
  Kim Fender, Library Director, speaks in support of the levy.
  An opposing view was not presented at this forum.
• Ballot Language
• Voting Help

Google News Search

• About this issue

Citizens for Your Library's Future Website

A website in support of Issue 1

Public Library of Hamilton County and Cincinnati

• About the Library