- Good afternoon.
And welcome.
I am very excited to be here with you all at Seattle Central Library
to announce my proposal for a library levy.
Seattle is a city of readers from toddlers discovering
their first stories to seniors finding connection and lifelong learning.
Our libraries belong to everyone.
Investing in our libraries means investing in every community member
and in the shared public spaces that help our city learn,
grow, imagine, and thrive together.
Today, my office transmitted to the Seattle City Council
a proposed property tax levy that seeks to provide important
and continued funding for Seattle libraries over the next seven years.
The library's current levy, passed by 76%
of Seattle voters in 2019, expires at the end of this year and currently
provides roughly a third of the Seattle Public Library's total budget authority.
My proposed levy furthers Seattle's commitment to a world class
library system.
The $410 million proposal will provide critical investments
in hours and access programing collections, building maintenance
and capital needs, and technology and online services through 2033.
So what does this mean for Seattle readers and learners?
Continue to open hours at all 27 neighborhood branches.
More physical books, as well as e-books, audiobooks
and multilingual books for readers of every age.
Expanded technology and online services to support learning.
Job access and connection, building maintenance and capital
improvements to care for library spaces citywide,
and additional facility and janitorial resources
to keep our libraries safer, cleaner, and more welcoming for everyone.
Seattle is a city of readers.
We are proud to be one of only two Unesco Cities of Literature
in the United States, alongside Iowa City and one of just 53
cities worldwide recognized for their vibrant literary culture.
As Seattle
continues to grow, now home to more than 800,000 residents,
our libraries remain at the heart of community life.
More than 600,000 Seattle have a library
card, and nearly 444,000 are actively using the system.
That's actually amazing numbers.
That's pretty incredible.
I am a proud, proud library, system user myself.
That's why, in addition to continuing the library's baseline
levy funding, this proposal includes a new investment of $4.6
million for the library's collection.
That is 2.2 million more for physical book titles to keep up with demand.
And 2.4 million for more ebooks and audiobooks,
which are increasingly popular formats for Seattle readers
but also increasingly expensive formats for libraries to carry.
With this investment in collections, we commit to giving Seattleites
access to knowledge and stories that fuel our imaginations.
Our libraries
provide the community with countless ways to learn, connect, and create.
Each year, they host thousands of free programs for all ages,
from storytimes and early literacy programs to author
talks, workshops, and community classes.
With the 2026 Library Levy.
We are proposing to expand that access
with funding of $12.6 million.
We will bring more storytimes to families, increased
literacy and multilingual programs, and host and facilitate
more events to create connection and belonging in every neighborhood.
Our libraries are vibrant and welcoming spaces
where people cannot come not only to read, but to research,
access technology, and gather with neighbors.
They widely offer free meeting rooms, space
for community groups, classes and our civic life.
This proposal gives additional resources to make our libraries safer,
cleaning cleaner and even more welcoming.
Seattle libraries are a mix of historic and modern architecture,
but every branch is now at least 20 years old.
Six are historic Carnegie libraries well over 100 years old.
This levy will help to maintain aging, heating and cooling systems, roofs,
elevators, and escalators so they remain safe and accessible for decades to come.
That's why
I'm proposing additional investment for upgrading and maintaining
library infrastructure, including $13 million
to improve earthquake safety at the historic Columbia City branch.
$10 million for critical and deferred maintenance needs, and $5.9
million for regular maintenance and custodial needs.
I'm also proposing an additional investment of $7.7 million
for security and emergency preparedness, staffing and upgraded systems.
In addition to these investments, we are also working to pursue
additional funding opportunities for our public libraries.
Currently, we are working to pursue a federal earmark
to improve elevator and escalator reliability at the world
renowned Central Library where we are today, which is 22 years old.
If you can believe that, many thanks to Congresswoman
Pramila Jayapal for her work helping us to move this forward.
But our libraries are not just physical spaces.
They're digital as well.
The Seattle Public Library provides access to digital books, digital history
collections, online newspapers and magazines, streaming media, and more.
They also provide free access to public computers and high, high speed Wi-Fi,
and the library knows all too well.
Following a serious ransomware attack in 2020 for safety
and security is a concern for our digital spaces, too.
When we manage sensitive customer data and provide open, free and public access
to technologies, investments must be made in our digital infrastructure.
That's why I'm proposing a $12.4 million investment
in cybersecurity enhancements, enterprise systems, device maintenance and capital
IT network infrastructure to help keep our virtual libraries,
systems and spaces up to date, safe and secure.
I believe each of these new investments
are critical to ensure a strong library system for years to come,
and I look forward to council deliberations on this proposal.
Thank you.
- Good afternoon everyone.
Thank you, Mayor Wilson.
It's so nice to be here in support of our amazing libraries.
And I was just taking a minute to take in this beautiful building.
As chair of the Seattle's Council's libraries, education and Neighborhoods
Committee, I am so honored and so pleased to be here today
to celebrate transmittal of the 2026 Seattle Public Library Levy.
As you know, and as the mayor said, Seattle is a city of readers.
People here belong to more than one club.
Book club.
At the same time, we are a Unesco designated City of Literature.
Some people think it might be hard to live in such a rainy city,
but we know that rain is just a good opportunity
to stay inside and curl up with a good book.
And we love our libraries.
There are places of imagination and engagement,
and each library is a reflection of its neighborhood.
Seattleites have described their branches
as third places, centers of learning
and community, and safe spaces
that they overwhelmingly describe as worth the investment.
This $410 million levy proposal affirms Seattle
Public Library's reputation as a world class library system.
Just like the 2019 levy.
The largest investments will uphold Seattle Public Library's
commitment to open hours and access to books in the format that readers want,
whether that be old school paper pages like I like
or e-books to download like my spouse and kids do.
With this new levy.
We will continue to deliver programing that people value everything from story,
time and play and learn for kids to retirement planning for seniors.
We will continue to grow the world
languages and English as a second language.
Collections.
With materials ranging from Spanish
and Chinese to Ukrainian, Pashto and Dari,
and many in between.
As someone whose first language is Spanish,
I truly appreciate the ability to get materials in the language that you speak.
We will take care of our aging buildings, making them last as far into the future
as possible, and branches will continue to be
Wilmington and welcoming to all.
Libraries will continue to be a technology resource
for those who need access to computers, laptops and printers
for homework or job hunting, or to access city services.
The library also provides Wi-Fi hotspots for kids, families,
seniors, and community groups who don't have access to the internet.
When I was a kid
growing up in a low income, not very safe neighborhood in the Bronx,
our local library was the only place my mother would let me go alone.
At the library, I felt safe.
Spending time among the stacks of books turned me
into a lifelong reader, and lover of books.
I cherish those memories, and I know I am not alone.
Our community members are kids and seniors, and everyone
in between feel the same way about their libraries.
I want to thank Mayor Wilson Pres, Board President, Medi
Chief Librarian Fay the mayor's team,
especially Deputy Mayor Serhant and Central Budget Office
Director Panucci, CBO staff, and everyone on the Seattle
Public Library team for partnering with me to deliver this levy package.
I also want to thank
my council colleagues for sharing their levy priorities with me.
We are all aligned, as you can hear from the mayor's speech
and even my own speech, and we did not coordinate.
But this is how much we all are aligned and cares so much about our libraries.
We,
we want to continue the great work that our libraries are doing,
including open hours, because that's what people have told us they care about.
And each time we work together on projects like this, the city has better outcomes.
And I am so proud to be part of this project.
I look forward to meeting this, to moving this proposal quickly to Council
to get this deadline on the ballot for voters to vote on in August.
Thank you so much for having me here.
And also a special shout out to all the library board members here today.
Thank you.
- Thank you, Council Member Rivera, for your words of support.
Thank you, Mayor Wilson, for this library levy proposal.
And thanks to our library board members, including Board President Yazmin
Mehdi, Doctor Tali Hairston, Faith Pettis, and Ron Chew.
I look forward to working with each of you through council's public process
to ensure the 2026 library levy is responsive to Seattle's needs.
Libraries mean many things to many people in our community.
Some libraries are a place to pick up their books
or browse our stacks for their next read.
To others, libraries are third spaces away from home or work
where they can gather to collaborate with colleagues, chat with their book club
friends, design and print a flier for a community event,
spend time with their children on a Saturday morning, practice
a dance routine
in one of our meeting rooms, or sit quietly and read the Sunday paper.
Others use the library as centers for collaborative learning,
taking in words of wisdom from their new favorite author, or participating
in a class to learn new information or new skill, or a new language.
And still others need libraries as a safe place to stay warm or dry
during inclement weather, or to get help finding lifeline services
through our referrals support, including access to affordable housing,
medical care, transportation, and much more.
At our libraries, patrons see signs that welcome them with the phrase
everyone belongs at the library.
We welcome and provide support for all our patrons
no matter your age, ability, information, need, or background.
And with no purchase required.
Libraries are powered by 700 dedicated staff.
Hundreds of partner organizations, including our support networks
coordinated by the Seattle Public Library Foundation
and the friends of the library, and almost 300 active community volunteers.
And as mayor, Wilson said, libraries need our support,
not just financial, but moral and legislative support as well.
In my 43 years in library service,
I've never seen libraries, books, information and knowledge
more under attack in the United States than we've seen in the last few years.
Those who seek to control information and stifle free and informed thinking
see libraries and books as a threat, but not here in Seattle.
In Seattle, residents tell us they see libraries as essential.
They see libraries is not just a nice to have, but a must have.
This library won't just this levy.
We just won't fund libraries.
It will preserve and nurture the values Seattle holds most dear.
The values that set us apart as a city of readers,
freethinkers, lifelong learners and includes not dividers.
With the mayor's proposed investment
in library hours, collections, programs, technology and buildings.
The Seattle Public Library can continue our important work of providing
free access to books and to 27 safe public spaces that welcome everyone,
enriching lives and empowering them to achieve their goals
and supporting community literacy outcomes including reading literacy,
financial literacy, digital literacy, and more.
With this funding, we can increase our early learning and student
support offerings through more programs like Afterschool Homework Help
or Kaleidoscope Plan learn for children ages 0 to 5.
With the mayor's proposed investment in capital infrastructure,
we can make good on our commitment
to improve earthquake safety at our historic Carnegies
with a renovation and seismic retrofit of the Columbia branch.
We can modernize aging library spaces to better
meet our current needs and our future needs.
And with the mayor's proposal, proposed investment in cybersecurity
and networking resources, we can keep our I.T.
infrastructure up to date and most importantly, secure.
But with the proposed levy, Seattle
has also the opportunity to further invest in its own values and civic well-being.
I truly look forward to working toward this goal and continued partnership
with Mayor Wilson, Council Member Rivera, and all the Seattle City Council members.
Now, for our last speaker, I'd like to introduce our board president,
Yazmin Mehdi.
- Thank you. Tom.
Thank you, Mayor Wilson.
Thank you. Council member Rivera.
The Board of trustees is a five member volunteer board.
We provide financial and policy oversight for the Seattle Public Library.
As Tom already introduced, my colleagues, Doctor Tali
Hairston, Faith and Ron Chew are here with me.
We also have a fifth member, Carmen Bendixon, who couldn't be here today.
We take our role to govern the library
seriously and conduct our work transparently.
Among the many ways we do that is through regular oversight
of the implementation of the current library levy.
Every three months, Tom and his terrific staff provide detailed
reports of how we are meeting our commitments to the voters.
Despite significant
challenges in this last levy period, which included
Covid ransomware attacks and significant economic challenges,
we've worked diligently to meet our levy commitments.
But challenging times are exactly when it is most important
to keep the vision of what we can be as our guiding star.
And in no place and time is that as important as it is now.
Libraries are the cornerstone of democracy
and have historically been a key vehicle for helping people
reach the American Dream, including my own immigrant parents.
My Mexican mother and Indian father used the library
to learn about their adopted country library resources,
help them instill a deep love of learning for me and my brother.
And the library helped my family become part
of our community, first in Renton and then in Bellevue
while attaining the American Dream.
Today in many ways seems impossible.
We fail to lead when we fail
to dream and invest in those dreams.
When we invest in our libraries, we invest in all of our futures
and the betterment and even strengthening of our community.
Today, we're joined by our partners at the Seattle Public Library Foundation
and the friends of the Seattle Public Library.
Well, you guys wave?
There they are.
That's just a few of them.
These folks understand this.
And every day through the work they do to support the library,
they demonstrate their commitment.
They're not just among our key stakeholders.
They are our partners in envisioning how libraries can help people.
And they are our partners in making that a reality
through their time and their treasure.
We thank the mayor for seeing the value of investing in the future
by putting forth this library levy, and we look forward to working
with the City Council as they put their imprimatur on the levy itself.
I thank you very much, and I'd like to turn this back
over to the mayor and Tom.
- Okay.
I think we're taking some questions.
What's going on now?
Yeah, okay.
Okay. Questions?
- Mayor, did you learn about the size
and particularly the complex conversations around Seattle's.
Leave it with me. Yeah.
- Yeah, totally.
I mean, I think this was this was a balancing act, right?
Because we're aware that the city is coming up against,
or, you know, kind of nearing our levy lid.
And there are other funding needs that we know are coming up in the coming years.
So we didn't want to get too close to that lid and not give us room,
for for other priorities.
And really, this was just a long back and forth conversation between my office
and council members, especially council Member Rivera's office and the library.
And, you know, we knew that we needed a comprehensive package that would meet
the many needs that the library has, from collections
to maintenance operations, capital needs, open hours.
And so really, it was just a lot of back and forth.
So we landed at that number.
There's no magic to a particular number, but,
but that's where we landed, and I'm happy with where we landed.
- Right there as well, you know, with this new levy, what was the,
I guess, cost to the average
homeowner, homeowner for,
the property taxes and whatnot?
What would that work for people looking that here?
Just.
- Yeah, that's a good question that I should have the answer to.
And I don't have it in my notes.
So I wonder if anyone from my team can call it out.
Do you have.
Okay. He's coming to my rescue.
- Yes. It would be $0.19.
Is the addition per 1000 of assessed value
- that that's the addition to the status quo? Yeah.
- Let me let me get that. I'm sorry. Mayor.
It's $0.19 per 1000 assessed value.
- You tell us more about the extended hours.
The last night, we kind of tried to push toward, 9 p.m.
closing times
just because of the pandemic.
And. But what is what is this levy intended to do?
- So my my understanding and you can correct me if I'm wrong, is that this
levy will maintain the current open hours and will not expand them.
And I think part of that calculate, I mean,
I think everyone would love to see expanded hours, right?
Part of this calculation was realizing that over the last challenging years
through the pandemic, the library has really cut to the bone
in terms of staffing, to support the hours that we do have open.
And so this levy will, increase staffing.
But it's it will maintain the existing open hours.
Is that a fair summary?
- Correct.
And, the the additional staffing in here
will actually help with our capacity for programing.
That is one of the things that we've experienced more of a hit
since the pandemic is not being able to produce as much.
So we hope to be able to increase that level of programing,
programing our classes, any of the enrichment activities,
empowerment activities that you can think of, everything
from resume writing to how to start your business.
So we'll be able to do more of that with the programmatic, staffing
that's in here.
I have a question for executive director Fey.
- One of the components of this proposed levy is addressing
safety, at library branches.
I was sorry if you could speak a little bit more to that.
And what you hear from, steel employees or library patrons about their concerns,
safety of different branches and, how you're implementing that feedback
into specific measures that may come as a result of this levy.
- Sure.
I I've been with the library now 11 years.
My previous role was the director of, library programs and services.
I oversaw all of the branches, the central library, at that time.
And when I came into the organization,
we were looking at quite a few, issues that were happening.
But as the pandemic rolled in, we started seeing even more,
issues cropping up from all of the social safety net issues.
We saw collapsing during that period of time.
And as we came out of it, things started getting better.
Slowly but surely.
We've had a lot of work, working with our staff,
our security staff in de-escalation skills.
And I think that's one of the the big focuses we've put in play in the last
five years, especially post-pandemic, is to really work
at keeping, people successful and their use of the library.
So the goal has been to have less exclusions.
By doing that work.
And so when I look at numbers we had back in 2016,
when I came in, we had almost 2000 exclusions.
We had less than 500 or right,
about 500, in 2025.
So that work is doing what we expect, which is to get those exclusions down
and have people be more successful in the library.
Part of the pieces that we put in play as well is we have two social workers.
They don't take a caseload, but they're also able to work
with all of our staff and providing the best referrals for people.
And that also helps, interrupt any kind of crisis situation.
People may find themselves in when they come into our spaces.
- I have a Follow-Up question.
You touched on, attacks that we've seen, you know, on on libraries,
in the last year, we've seen the Trump administration try to pull
funding from agencies like the Imls.
And I know SPL receives
a very small portion of funding from that agency for programs.
But, I was wondering if you could speak to, you know, whether this levy
is also trying to fund, programs that have historically been funded
by the federal government, and you're trying to,
locally fund those programs instead.
- So, no, we're not trying to fund federally, run programs with this levy.
This would be programs that patrons have told us that
they have an interest in, that we know there are needs within our city for.
So it does not have anything to do with that.
Now, can it be something that helps people with all of these issues
that are confronting them, as they face,
federal, interactions? Yes.
I mean, we do provide those services.
They're basic information services.
How can people get help?
They may need assistance with immigration.
With some of the things going on in the country right now,
it might be, again, someone who wants to start a business.
How do you start that business?
How do you get loans?
We have teams that work with that across the city.
So those are the types of programs that we're looking at, things
that are very relevant to the citizens of Seattle.
And we're not we're not actually trying to fund something the federal government
is no longer doing.
- Clarifying question.
You said, you know, in our situation is this plan during this with this levy
that includes all branches like capital over branches, currently only a little bit
of like one that is that expected to continue with this. - Currently. Yes.
That would be the case.
Yes. Council member.
- Oh, chief, I just want to say, because open hours are so important to everyone.
And I hear that too in my district, is that the 2019
levy actually expanded some open hours.
And Chief Fey and I have spoken about this and he give more details on,
most of the branches have expanded open hours because of the 2019 levy.
This maintains those open hours, so open hours won't be cut from the 2019 levy.
They will be maintained with this levy.
And that is that was important to all of us
to make sure that we didn't have to cut any open hours.
And we maintain that increase that was made in 2019.
- And one of the one of the things that we've we are
working on in this particular levy as well,
is to look at technology solutions like kiosks,
book kiosks that could be put in different locations in the city.
And that will also allow us to kind of extend that access.
Those might be in, could be in parks and rec centers
So as you can hear, we have programs going on all day long.
So announcing one of our programs,
but yes, with these other technologies like book lockers,
kiosks, those are the types of things that we can extend our reach,
and provide more access through the city.
- I was going to ask
a question, a general, which is, you mentioned the third
of the library's budget, and I think that's true for that.
As well.
But my understanding is Levy's initiative, originally intended, as
had opposed the city's general fund, covers basic functions.
But we're getting into a trap board.
Depending on this Levy's cover, the basic operations
of the department, like the libraries that that should typically just be funded
by the general fund.
- Yeah.
I mean, with this levy, the additional funding over and above baseline
is all going directly to the libraries as opposed to increasing dependance
on the levy.
So I think what we saw like last year, for example, with the FOP levy, right,
there was some supplementation happening so that, the additional money
raised to the levy, part of that was actually supplanting
general fund, money that had been used for that purpose.
We're not doing that in this case.
So, I mean, yes, what you're the trend that you're pointing out
is something that has happened.
We're not deepening that trend with this levy.
We are
increasing investment in the libraries through the additional money in the levy.
of reporting in recent days about the city's non-financial system.
And, next slide, including questions about the city's contract
with the homeless company and all, and concerns
about the potential for patients to fall through the cracks in that system.
What do you think about how the system is currently set up and how it's working
both contractually and on the ground?
- I am intensely interested in this topic, and we're going to keep our discussion
today focused on the library levy.
- You mentioned many of the buildings are getting old.
We haven't done any library in our 20 years
in the libraries for all, like it's about 20 years old.
What's the long term vision for a growing city at a neighborhood centers,
adding to urban centers without really expanding the number of libraries?
- I don't I don't know if you want to speak to the library's vision of expansion.
- I can, if you like.
So as we look at
this, initial levy, you've heard the focus on, capital maintenance
and some of those larger capital maintenance projects
or improvement projects like seismic retrofits.
It's really just a large maintenance project.
And so as we start
contemplating to your point, what can we do to do those improvements
that could be improvements in current spaces.
It could look to different types of facilities, new facilities down the road.
We know to do that we will have to look at additional measures other than the levy.
We may look at capital bonds.
We are very fortunate that the library to have a great fundraising partner
in the Seattle Public Library Foundation in libraries for all
they were the, private portion that helped raise additional funds
to get the libraries for all campaign, to build all these spaces
and to remodel all of them.
So we would contemplate something like that in, in the future.
But this first piece is really about getting our,
levy established so that we can maintain the services that we have been provided.
- Everyone have time for one more question.
- And, mayor, how confident are you that this levy will get passed
the rising costs around the city and secondly, it doesn't get passed?
Then how does the city plan on maintaining libraries?
For it doesn't have, you know, this
400, you know, $10 million.
- So, I mean, I will say that,
as I mentioned in my, remarks earlier,
the 2019 levy was passed by 76% of Seattle voters.
I think it's been set up here a number of times
that Seattle is a city of readers.
You know, a large majority of Seattle residents have and use a library card.
So I am very confident that Seattle residents, support our libraries will see
the value of this investment, which is a renewal of an existing levy.
You know, something that people already, support have supported with their votes.
So, yeah, I,
I am very confident and optimistic that voters will be really excited,
to support these additional investments in our library system.