Details on the Muskingum County Library Systems Levy

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Muskingum County Library System has an issue on the ballot this November.

They are asking members of the community to vote yes on a renewal of the current levy with a .25 Mills increase. This increase will be $3.20 a month for owners of a $100,000 home. The purpose of this increase is to help them maintain the operations they provide members.

Jennifer Spillman, Executive Director of the Library System said, “It’s so important that the community votes yes for our levy and supports us because this is 37% of our budget. That’s a large amount. The only ways we get money, basically there are two ways libraries are funded, our library system is funded through the state of Ohio and through this levy.”

This increase will go towards the daily operations of the library such as the hours they are open, programs and services they provide, technology and free wifi. Spillman said it will also help the staffing levels.

“It’s important because the level of staffing needed to run the library, we’ll be able to maintain that. The type of customer service that our patrons expect when they walk in the door, the smiling faces, the one on one attention that we can give.So we want to be able to continue to provide that, we want to continue to provide the books and the resources and the databases. We wouldn’t be able to do that if we don’t pass this levy,” Spillman said.

This levy goes towards specific things such as story time provided to the children, computers and they hope to add more innovative opportunities as well.