CHUH Main Library

A couple of notches down from the top of the voter-attention list, behind the presidential primaries and the Cleveland Heights income tax issue, was Issue 3, a request for a 1.9 mil additional operating levy to support the Cleveland Heights-University Heights public library system. Unlike the income tax, the library issue passed last night by a comfortable margin of 11,740 to 8,432. Though this issue enjoyed somewhat less media attention than the presidential primary and the income tax issue, it did not pass without controversy. This is the Heights, after all.

According to Library Director Steve Wood at a February 21 forum cosponsored by the Cuyahoga League of Women Voters-Heights Chapter and FutureHeights, the levy was necessary not to add new programming, but to sustain current offerings. The library system has two sources of income. State funds that support all libraries in Ohio account for between 39 and 40% of the budget; these funds have been flat since 2002. The rest of the funds have come from two existing levies, a 4-mil levy passed in 1992 and a 1.9 mil levy passed in 2000. Together these have cost homeowners $106.50 per year per $100,000 of home valuation.

Because House Bill 920 locks in the annual dollar amount collected through these levies at the first-year level, the funds do not keep pace with inflation. Like all public school districts in Ohio, libraries also need to request additional levies periodically to keep pace with inflation. Expenditures in CH-UH have increased about 12% since 2002, according to Wood, or about 2% per year. Officially the new levy should raise $2.3 million annually but that figure is based on property tax collection at 100% of the most recent valuation. Because of the foreclosure crisis, Wood estimates that real collections will be at closer to 93% of valuation, generating about $1.9 million a year, costing the homeowner an additional $58 per $100,000 of home valuation.

Some residents suggested that the library had spent unwisely, especially on the renovation and operation of the former YMCA building, as well as the pedestrian bridge connecting the library with the former “Y.” Wood noted that the renovation was funded by a separate bond issue, and a portion of the operating cost of the annex is borne by outside organizations that run programs in those spaces.

Said one longtime Cleveland Heights resident early on election day, “I think they were asking for a lot. Maybe they figured people were going to vote for it anyway, so why not ask for more? But I’m afraid it might hurt their chances. At first I thought they needed the money because they'd spent too much on the expansion, but I looked into it and now I don't think that's the reason.” His misgivings, however, were balanced by a historic commitment to the library system. “So I voted for it. Maybe because I used to work for the library a long time ago, but also I think the library is a great value in general. Ohio traditionally supports its libraries and that’s a great thing.”

Given the relatively easy passage of the levy, it appears most voting residents of Cleveland Heights and University Heights felt the same way. The new levy assessment will begin to appear on property tax bills in 2009.