SEATTLE — Seattle's mayor will help make a pitch for more library money with a new levy that would raise more than $100 million.
Four years of budget cuts have closed some branch libraries on Sundays, and have shut down the entire system for a week in summer.
The new levy is an attempt to bring back full service.
The Seattle City Council is proposing a $122.6 million library levy over seven years, about $17.3 million a year from homeowners’ property taxes.
The library said that would cost the owner of a median value home in Seattle an extra $52 a year.
For that, the library would be able to restore some Sunday hours at all of its branches and end the week-long summer shut down.
The Seattle Public Library would also be able to buy more books and other materials than have been possible with recent cuts.
The levy money would also help replace and upgrade public computers and software, as well as maintain that technology.
The mayor, the council, and the Seattle Public Library will roll out their levy campaign at noon Monday. The council takes a vote on it at 2:30 p.m.
The levy will go to voters on the August ballot.
KIRO
