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Akron Summit County Public Library seeks voter approval for $160 million bond to repair and modernize 19 branches
Summary
Library officials told the Green City Council the May ballot measure is a 1‑mill, 20‑year bond to fund capital repairs and modernization across 19 branches; the cost to a $100,000 home is about $35 per year.
Pam Hickson Stephenson, executive director of the Akron Summit County Public Library, told the Green City Council on April 22 that the library system will ask voters in May to approve a 1‑mill, 20‑year bond that the system estimates will raise $160 million for capital work across 19 locations.
The measure would pay for repairs and upgrades the system says are overdue after the 1997 bond that funded construction and major renovations to most branches. "It is a 1 mil 20 year issue that will raise $160,000,000," Hickson Stephenson said, adding the work would proceed over six to eight years and “no location will go untouched in the system.”
The bond, she said, may be the library’s only realistic source for capital work; operating revenue comes from a local property tax operating levy and state support. Hickson Stephenson told council members the bond cannot be used for operating expenditures such as salaries or program costs.
Sherry Swisher, branch manager for the Green Branch, described high local usage and the building’s age: the Green Branch was one of six opened after the 1997 bond and the branch has been in service since 1999. "We are second busiest in the entire 18 location branches of the Akron Summit County system," Swisher said, noting the branch’s role in local programs and partnerships with city events.
Hickson Stephenson and Swisher outlined specific needs the bond would address: failing roofs and parking lots, aging HVAC systems, updated electrical capacity for patrons’ laptops and devices, and retrofits to support remote work, quiet study and smaller-scale maker opportunities at branch locations. Hickson Stephenson said the system has completed roughly $6.1 million in repairs to date but expects substantially greater needs going forward.
She said the library worked with a design firm on a space-usage feasibility study; that study and other factual information about the bond are posted at akronlibrary.org, and supporters maintain a site at supportourlibrary.com. Hickson Stephenson said the design firm engaged the public in person and online and that "thousands of people" responded to the online surveys.
Hickson Stephenson described the estimated homeowner cost: about $35 per year on a $100,000 home, roughly $3 per month. She urged council and the public to support the measure and said the system will provide details if the measure passes.
Information: akronlibrary.org and supportourlibrary.com have bond and study documents; the Green Branch director encouraged residents to review the space‑use feasibility pages for location-specific needs.
