Ohio libraries bracing for tough choices as state funding revenue continues to dip

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Ohio public libraries act as community hubs not just for reading, but also internet access, and job and school resources. But they are being forced to have difficult discussions as state funding revenue continues to dip, threatening operations and programs.

For Victoria Schrock, who’s worked at three different library systems in the state, the library represents a bridge from patrons to basic human needs.

“I think really everything we do is connected to or promotes human flourishing,” Schrock said.

She started working in libraries in 2020 and watched as the communities relied more on digital resources, but also clung to access to technology, social services and learning-loss help as the pandemic closed schools and left parents and students without other options.

“One of my favorite things about my job is seeing people make connections and build community,” Schrock said.

With state revenues not meeting projections as hoped, library systems are making choices about programs and staffing, and even cutting hours to make ends meet.

“This isn’t something that’s going to be impacting us a year from now,” said Michelle Francis, executive director of the Ohio Library Council. “It’s going to have immediate effects.”

How libraries are funded

Francis spoke to a recent meeting of Ohio’s Joint Property Tax Review and Reform Committee about the impacts lower-than-projected revenues are having on the libraries across the state and impacts potential changes to the state’s property tax regulation may have on the systems.

“Further limitations in funding, both at the state and local level, would be devastating to many of our communities where the public library is seen as and serves as a community hub,” Francis told the committee in May.

Libraries receive funding from the Public Library Fund, a state-subsidized account which currently takes 1.7% of the general revenue fund and distributes it to Ohio’s public libraries.

Library systems keep an eye on state tax receipts from month to month, because those receipts tell libraries how their funding might rise or fall. The numbers have been in a downward trend over the decades in a field that still hasn’t recovered from recession losses of 2009.

In 2008, the Public Library Fund sat at $450.6 million. It has been below that number ever since, with it’s biggest dip in 2012, when the PLF dropped 23.6% from the 2008 base number.

In 2022, the PLF distribution was $208.5 million. The fund dropped again in 2023, to $205.2 million. Current numbers reported by the Ohio Library Council show the 2024 year-to-date distribution at $187.5 million.

While the OLC and local libraries are grateful for state funding, because of a 1970s-era state law, libraries don’t see inflationary growth on the millage they receive from property tax levies, and the state does not provide facilities funding for libraries either, meaning maintenance has been deferred sometimes for decades.

“I know of one library in particular that has an HVAC system that’s over 50 years old,” Francis said, adding that replacing the system comes at a price tag of more than $1 million.

If the $450 million the libraries received in 2008 could be adjusted for inflation, that would amount to $645.7 million in today’s dollars.

Property tax levies are becoming more and more necessary to hold districts solvent and keep services going, especially as the percentage given by the state has been in flux over the years. The 1.7% libraries currently receive is up from 1.68% received in 2018-2019 biennial budget, and even further from the 1.66% in years prior.

In 2004, only 74 of the 251 libraries the OLC represents had levies on the books. This year, 203 libraries rely on levies for funding, and only 48 live without them.

The Germantown Public Library is one of the few in the state running solely on state money, making decreases to the Public Library Fund even more impactful to them.

“We’ve kind of gotten into the habit of running lean here,” said Greg Van Bebber, executive director and fiscal officer for the library.

With an older demographic in a more rural area southwest of Dayton, the library is proud of their physical stacks of books, but also have seen significant jumps in electronic resources budgets, along with hanging on to things like notary services and free art classes.

Though the funding discussions were happening long before COVID threw everyone for a loop, Van Bebber said that period really ratcheted up pivoting strategies.

“I think it really made directors and library boards think about what are the services and how can things like this change what we do,” Van Bebber told the Capital Journal.

They’ve since joined a consortium, as many libraries in the state have done, to broaden access to books that may not be in their stacks. Even with COVID in the rearview mirror, Germantown’s total budget still isn’t back to pre-2008 recession levels.

If state funding continues to drop, Van Bebber said his library would look at longterm solutions, like cutting operating hours, perhaps different methods of book-buying and more deferred maintenance.

“We’re looking at pumping the brakes on expansion of services and reprioritizing what we’re doing,” he said of discussions with the Germantown leadership and library board.

Some silver lining in the fight for library funding is the significant passage rate for library levies in the state, more than 80% since the 1980s. With the passage of levies comes a growing expectation from library patrons to have access to resources and services, but the support and demand should be the proof legislators need to lean in to funding, according to Francis.

“If anything, because of our passage rate, this is something that tells the legislature, this is what we do want you to spend our tax money on,” she told the Capital Journal.

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