The following vote amounts and percentages are from unofficial results as of 10:05 p.m. Tuesday night.
Levy 17 passed with 12,561 votes and 53.99%, supplying funding primarily to benefit public libraries in Athens County.
According to the County Auditor's worksheet, the levy is estimated to generate $2.175 million annually. Currently at 1.2 mills, the proposed levy will increase by 0.3 mills for the next five years.
According to Athens County Loves Libraries, a political action committee dedicated to helping pass Levy 17, the replacement levy will cost approximately $3.94 per month for every $100,000 of property value, compared to the current levy that costs property owners approximately $2.45 per month.
Nick Tepe, director of Athens County Public Libraries, said Athens County Public Libraries was fully funded before the budget cuts passed by the state in 2009.
The libraries passed their first tax levy in 2014 to make up for budget cuts. However, Tepe said over the past decade, state funding increased a small amount.
“When we passed our last levy in 2019, that was increased to 1.2 mills, and now we’re kind of in the same boat where our costs, as everybodies, continued to go up, but we have not received increased funding from the state,” Tepe said.
Tepe has been working for the Athens system for eight years and sees the library as essential for residents.
“I have always believed in the power of libraries to improve their community, and libraries are at their best when the community is involved and working to help support the library,” Tepe said. “We can respond to the things the community brings us that they need from their library."
