Ballot Measure 20-309
City of Eugene, Oregon Renewal of the Five-Year Library Local Option Levy
Question: Shall Eugene levy $2,850,000/year for five years, beginning 2021-2022, to maintain the current level of library services?
This measure renews current local option taxes. In 2010, faced with a slow economy and steadily rising personnel expenses, the City of Eugene cut more than $6 million from its $445 million annual budget. Cuts to the Library’s budget included 15-20% of its $840,328 budget for new books, magazines, newspapers, audio books, DVDs, other materials, hours of operation, and librarian hours. In 2015, voters approved a Eugene Library Local Option Five-year Levy that has been used to increase operating hours, the number of free programs offered, new materials purchased and technology at all Eugene Public Library locations: Downtown, Bethel, and Sheldon. That levy expires in June 2021.
Ballot Measure 20-309 asks voters to renew the five‐year library local option levy approved by voters in 2015 in order to continue:
⦁ the 47 additional open hours per week across three library locations
⦁ the 1/3 increase in free programs for all ages
⦁ the Maker Hub area, programming, and upkeep
⦁ the increased off‐site delivery of programs and outreach
⦁ and to replace the internet‐ready devices at Bethel and Sheldon branch library locations
The levy will generate $2,850,000 each year for five years for a total levy of $14,250,000. The estimated tax rate for this levy will be approximately $0.15 per $1,000.00 of property value. ($0.02 less than the 2015 levy.) It is estimated the typical Eugene taxpayer will pay an average of $37 per year over the levy’s five‐year period. Based on the best information available from the county assessor, it is estimated to raise more money than it did in the last five years due to increasing property values. Current demand for library services is high. Since the pandemic, demand for the Library’s virtual resources are up almost 75%, and nearly 1,000 new library cards have been issued.
The renewed levy can help the community address COVID-19 impacts such as:
1. Supporting student learning success with high-quality educational resources, including:
⦁ Online tutoring services and traditional books (even a telescope available for checkout)
⦁ Information access opportunities, such as mobile Wi-Fi “HotSpots” and other internet-ready devices available for checkout
⦁ Helping students recover and cope with changes resulting from the pandemic
2. Facilitating strategies to address community economic/employment impacts such as:
⦁ Partnering with agencies like the Small Business Development Center and the Chamber of Commerce
⦁ Providing space to partner agencies and individuals with a physical location and meeting point when it is safe
⦁ Offering high-quality programming and resources such as the Business and Career collection for retraining and developing new skills
3. Providing Access and Inclusion by:
⦁ Assisting individuals in their use of library resources
⦁ Helping isolated or vulnerable individuals connect socially and, when it is safe, physically
⦁ Purchasing more materials from many different voices
⦁ Offering programs that target specific populations and focus outreach toward underserved and underrepresented populations such as people of color, individuals who have inadequate or no Internet access, and people of color
The measure will also require an annual report on spending that will be reviewed by the Library Advisory Board and made available to the City Council and the public.
Register Guard article: Library Levy kicks off campaign Tuesday
Register Guard article: Library levy: A lukewarm ‘yes’
https://apps.lanecounty.org/Elections/Document.ashx?id=2900