The library is asking voters to approve a 5-year “renew and increase” levy of 1.25 mills.  This is an increase of .25 mills from the current 1 mill levy. 

Although the Ohio Revised Code allows the Granville Public Library to receive funding from a property tax, it is not a taxing authority. The board of trustees of our library has limited scope of what it is legally able to approve, per the Ohio Revised Code (3375.66).

Because the library board is appointed, not elected, the library must have a taxing authority to put a levy initiative on the ballot. In our case it is the Granville Exempted Village School District (GEVSD). Their elected board must approve tax levies and bond levies on behalf of the Granville Public Library.

The public library, in return, has a contract for service in place with the GEVSD that provides library service to the entire population that resides within the school district. The GEVSD approves the levy, places it on the ballot, receives the tax income on the library’s behalf. The school district takes no money from this levy.

Please contact the library if you would like to see the contract for service or want to know more about the GEVSD functioning as its taxing authority.

The ballot language will read as follows:

A renewal of 1.00 mill and an increase of 0.25 mills for each $1 of taxable value to constitute a tax for the benefit of Granville Public Library, Licking County, Ohio, for the purpose of current expenses, that the county auditor estimates will collect $696,000  annually, at a rate not exceeding 1.25 mills for each $1 of taxable value, which amount to $29.79 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s appraised value, for five years, commencing in 2025, first due in calendar year 2026. 

Per the Licking County Auditor, the renew and increase levy of 1.25 mills will cost the homeowner just under $30.00 for every $100,000 of the home’s assessed value. You can find the amount of tax you pay by looking at the Licking County Auditor’s page and doing a search using OnTrac which can be accessed at this link: https://www.lcounty.com/depts/auditor/.

Per the Licking County Auditor, the levy will provide the library with approximately $696,000 annually. This amount represents approximately 45% of the library’s annual operating budget.

Approximately 60% of the library’s annual operating budget comes from state funding in the form of the Public Library Fund. The Fund can vary each time the State Assembly approves a new budget. State funding for public libraries in Ohio is projected to continue decreasing, by approximately $21 million state-wide for 2025, and so this levy will help offset some of that loss. 

Also, this renew and increase levy will allow the library to maintain exceptional library services throughout our service area.  In addition, due to continued growth in our service area and in usage of library resources, the library plans to expand outreach and electronic services to meet the needs of the community. 

This is an operating levy which means we can only use the funds for daily operations such as:

• Buying materials that are available for borrowing

• Paying staff

• Purchasing supplies

• Maintenance and operation of the library building

• Increase programming for technology

• Expand outreach services due to growth in our service area

• Expand electronic services due to rising demand

Operating levy funds cannot be used for capital improvement projects. 

After the last levy was approved in 2019, the library: 

• Maintained a treasured, long-standing institution of Granville, both by maintaining our beautiful facility but also assuring that the services offered by the public library are on par with the 21st Century needs of our community

• Refreshed the building, including new flooring throughout the library, fresh paint, additional study tables and comfortable furniture, additional outlets for patrons to charge their devices, created a dedicated Maker Space, and restored our historic Clara Sinnett White Reading Room

• Continued the long-standing customer request that the Granville Public Library be open on Sunday

• Continued our library’s outreach services to preschools, educational facilities and to senior facilities in Granville, including GPL Special Delivery, which delivers library materials to those who can’t travel to the library

• Kept current with technology, including robust Wi-Fi, replaced and upgraded patron computers, greatly expanded our Maker Space equipment, and due to high demand, increased our collection of downloadable, streaming and electronic database offerings that are free for all cardholders

• Maintained a current collection of educational and entertaining materials, in various formats

• Greatly expanded programming for all ages including technology classes, book clubs, current events discussions and fun events for children and teens library has a financial reserve, which is common in public agencies, and ours is aligned with the best practices for an organization of our size and budget. Our reserve funds represent our entire capacity to pay for upgrades, major repairs, such as the 2023 refresh, and ongoing expenses. 

The levy constitutes approximately 45% of our annual operating budget, therefore cuts in library services will be required.

Examples of likely cuts would be reduction in open days and hours, minimal programming, decrease in purchasing of new material, and fewer downloadable, streaming and electronic database offerings.

The voter registration deadline for the November 5, 2024 general election is Tuesday, October 7, 2024. You can register to vote at the Granville Public Library. Follow this link to check your voter registration status: https://www.boe.ohio.gov/licking/

Emily Shellhouse, Library Director, would be glad to answer any questions you might have. You can contact her by email at eshellhouse@granvillelibrary.org or by phone at 740-587-0196, ext. 101.