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The proposed levy would raise $4.3 million annually, funding core operations while adding early literacy programming and new book-vending kiosks.
After years of budget cuts, supporters of the Eugene Public Library are making a renewed case to voters: Pay a little more now, or risk losing access later.
On the May 19 primary election ballot, Eugene residents will weigh a five-year library levy that would increase the current tax rate from 15 cents to 19 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, projected to raise $4.3 million per year.
For the average homeowner, that amounts to about $54 a year — roughly $17 more than the current levy, which was approved by over three-quarters of voters in 2020.
That increase is critical to stabilizing a system that has absorbed more than $3 million in city cuts and lost about 13 full-time staff positions over the last few years, library advocates say. The increased levy would make up about 23% of the library’s budget. Eugene’s general fund would cover most of the remainder.
“It would be a pity to see it not pass, because it will not just impact the library, but the community writ large,” said Eugene Public Library Foundation Executive Director Dana Fleming. “They will probably have to potentially close a branch, definitely cut hours.”
The increased levy would allow the library to maintain 160 operational hours, or 47 open hours per week, across its three branches — downtown, Bethel and Sheldon — and keep the roughly 18 staff members necessary for that access.
The city considered closing the downtown library on Sundays and Mondays to narrow its $11.5 million 2025-27 general fund budget gap, but avoided doing so by hiking its stormwater fee. The city projects a gap of at least $2 million between revenue and expenses in its next budget.
The proposed levy would bring in a few new perks, too, like the hiring of a children’s outreach librarian, who would reinstate popular early literacy programs like “Storytime to Go,” which takes storytime to parks and day-care centers.
“They’re trained specifically on how to interact with kids,” Fleming said, including storytime conduct like when to pause, turn the page, show the pictures, and explain a particular word. “It’s a science.”
The levy would also fund expanded book collections for children up to age 5. Early literacy has become a particular focus because of the popularity of the library’s existing children’s programs, and Oregon’s low rankings in reading proficiency, library leaders said.
“Catching kids before they get to third grade is incredibly vital to their future success the rest of their lives,” Fleming said.
The last addition that could come from the levy is a bit more experimental: 24-hour automated library kiosks, described as Redbox machines for books. Should the levy pass, the library plans to install one in the Churchill area and a second in a location still under consideration, though Santa Clara has been floated, Fleming said.
The kiosks would extend the library’s reach into underserved areas by allowing patrons to pick up and return materials without a full-service branch nearby. The machines each cost between $100,000 and $300,000, Fleming said.
“They’re not super-cheap, but we need them to be sturdy,” she said. “You don’t have to have staff there to maintain them and get the books out to people. It kind of runs itself.”
The Eugene City Council selected the most expensive levy renewal proposal from three options: one that would have kept the same rate as the 2020 version, one that would have raised it by 2 cents, and one it chose, the 4-cent increase.
Originally councilors supported the 2-cent version, which would have maintained hours and the early literacy librarian, but ultimately turned to the 4-cent version, which Fleming said was due to their excitement about the kiosks included as part of that package.
That made library supporters a “little nervous” because polling conducted ahead of the ballot measure showed strong support for maintaining existing services, but more mixed reactions to the package including the machines.
“The third one was a little more like, ‘I don’t know if we need to go that high,’” Fleming said. “This is a little bit of a wild card, so we’ll see how it’s received.”
Strong voter support for the levy will build a case to protect the library during future city budget conversations, added Sally Krueger, a member of the library foundation’s board of directors. The PAC for the library levy, Libraries for Everyone, has $21,469 in cash on hand as of April 28.
“We want the levy to not just pass, because it will pass, but we need it to pass without any doubt that this is what this community would like to support,” Krueger said.
Eugene voters have helped fund the library with a levy since 2002. The current version of the levy, passed overwhelmingly in 2020, was actually a 2-cent tax rate decrease from the previous 2015 levy — leaving the library with a smaller dedicated funding stream that cannot be diverted by the council, unlike spending from the general fund.
“That extra little oomph from the 2 cents per $1,000 would have come in handy,” Fleming said.
