5-year levy will support Sweet Home library – Lebanon Express

Lawrence Paquin and Tanya Bond use one of the public access computers at the Sweet Home Public Library.

Rose Peda

Library Director

SWEET HOME Sweet Home residents will have the opportunity to vote on continuing to support the public library with an annual property tax levy of $1.17 per $1,000 for five years via Ballot Measure 22-184 on Nov. 3.

The library opened in 1969, although Sweet Home has had a library since 1942, operating for many years out of the basement of City Hall. In 1942, Sweet Home had a population of about 1,100. There are now more than 9,000 residents.

The levy would begin on July 1, 2021, and is expected to generate $2,383,820 over its five-year run, ranging from $443,977 in year one to $530,670 in year five.

The librarys annual circulation is about 40,000. Its story hour program attracts more than 100 youngsters and its annual summer reading program serves more than 500 children.

The library is a member of the Linn Libraries Consortium and has five Little Free Libraries at the Boys & Girls Club of the Greater Santiam; Foster, Oak Heights and Hawthorne elementary schools; and the Crawfordsville Market.

The current library at 13th and Kalmia is 51 years old and was not designed with computers in mind.

The city hired a consulting firm last year to assess library needs and to consider whether the current structure could be remodeled, or if an entirely new building is needed to meet current community needs.

The proposed levy would provide funding for operating expenses only, not remodeling or construction of a new building in the future.

Richard Gray and Joseph Store of FFA Architecture told City Council members that the building is undersized for the communitys current population, is seismically deficient and lacks space for a variety of community needs, such as tutoring for small groups, meetings for large groups, and all-ages story hours.

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5-year levy will support Sweet Home library - Lebanon Express