QuickTake:

A renewal of the levy that funds 17% of Eugene Public Library’s budget will go before voters in May. Councilors are deciding whether the levy renewal proposal should stay at the same rate or be increased to fund an expansion of some services.

Councilors picked up discussion on the renewal of the city’s library levy during a work session Monday, Oct. 28, moving closer to a proposal that would appear on Eugene ballots in May.

The existing five-year levy was approved with more than 75% of the vote in 2020 and charges residents a property tax rate of 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, or about $37 a year for a typical house, to support library service. It accounts for about 17% of Eugene Public Library’s funding and will expire in June.

Library staff last spoke with the council over the levy’s renewal in September, when they outlined the timeline and framework. The final day for the council to vote to place the levy on the May ballot is Feb. 18.

During Monday’s meeting, Joshua Bates, director of library, recreation and cultural Services, and Angela Ocaña, library services director, proposed three options for the 2026 levy:

  1. Maintain the current tax rate of 15 cents per $1,000, for an average cost per home of $43 per year. This would raise in total about $3.45 million annually.
    • This option maintains 160 service hours across three locations. It would enhance building safety and accessibility and fund the development of a long-term libraries plan, which would assess needs at all three libraries and potential expansions of the Bethel and Sheldon branches.
  1. Increase the tax rate to 17 cents per $1,000, an average cost per home of $49 per year. It would raise about $3.86 million annually.
    • This option adds an early literacy librarian, expanded youth programming and Storytime to Go, which sends trained volunteers into preschools, day cares and kindergartens.
    • The early literacy librarian could revive a 2020 “baby bag” project, where libraries work with hospitals and early care providers to give parents a baby’s first board book, a puppet and a noisemaker. It also includes a sign-up for the Imagination Library, the library’s free book-by-mail service for children.
  1. Increase the tax rate to 19 cents per $1,000, for an average cost per home of $56 per year. It would raise in total about $4.42 million annually.
    • This option adds neighborhood book-vending kiosks and return units in west Eugene, River Road and south Eugene.
    • Staff said the kiosks, which are integrated with the library’s existing catalog, extend circulation without adding long-term staffing costs. They used San Bernardino County Library as an example, where kiosks represent 8% of circulation at only 2% of the cost. 

In January, staff will present polling results, and councilors will select a levy option.

Councilors largely supported Option 2 on Monday, as it is only slightly more expensive but expands some services.

“I would love to see everything on this suite of menu options, but I recognize that there might be more prudent to go for that Goldilocks option that gets us just right and delivers services appropriately,” Councilor Matt Keating said.

Councilor Lyndsie Leech said she was “deeply passionate” about Option 2, reflecting on her experience growing up poor and finding a refuge in her local library, which she said opened a previously closed door to higher education and a career.

“Let’s support these families that support these children and their ability to do what I did,” she said. “Beat the odds.”

Councilor Alan Zelenka, who has previously supported steeper library levies, was supportive of the expansion plan. He pointed to the 2020 renewal receiving a generous share of the vote, meaning a larger fee increase could have what he called “headroom.”

“That’s a heck of a deal, and I think people will see that as a big deal as well,” he said, referring to the expansion plan.

Echoing previous discussions about library funding, councilors Mike Clark and Randy Groves urged caution with library service expansion while local fire and emergency services also lack funds. 

“We haven’t done as good a job at growing our fire response commensurately and proportionately, and so as we move into the next couple of years, that’s going to be more of our focus than not,” Clark said. “I would encourage you to reconsider the idea of expansion.”

Groves said the cost of Salem’s library is between a quarter and a third of Eugene’s, a comparison that Zelenka wrote off as “not just apples and oranges,” but “apples and lizards.” 

Ocaña estimated that the Salem library provides a third less services in terms of hours and access, and has less square footage than Eugene’s libraries.

Clark shot back, nodding to the ongoing search for a new city manager: “To say that compared to what other cities do is apples to lizards is kind of ridiculous. We do it all the time. We do it with paying city managers.”

Many councilors said they looked forward to seeing polling results to see what the public thinks. 

Polling on the levy renewal — which was also done in 2015 — will begin next month through research firm DHM Research and will involve 15-minute phone and text surveys of 400 residents matched to active voter records.

“That will tell us a lot about where our community is now, about whether they are interested in paying the same amount they’re paying now, if they’re willing to pay 50 cents more, $1 more,” Councilor Eliza Kashinsky said.

Grace Chinowsky graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in journalism. She served as editor-in-chief of the university’s independent student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, and interned at CNN and MSNBC. Grace covers Eugene’s city government and the University of Oregon.