Greater Cincinnati's library systems are watching Ohio's budget process closely.
The Ohio House has proposed changes to library funding that could mean big cuts for some local libraries.
For decades, the state's Public Library Fund has distributed a percentage of the state's budget — currently 1.7%, or about $530 million in fiscal year 2025 — to libraries across the state. Gov. Mike DeWine has proposed upping that to 1.75%, or about $532 million for fiscal year 2026 and $549 million the year after.
But the Ohio House's budget would change the model, giving libraries a flat budget line item instead of a proportion of the state's budget. That model would give libraries about $485 million in fiscal year 2026 and $495 million the year after.
Paula Brehm-Heeger is the director of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library. She says the proposed changes to the way the state distributes library funding could be "catastrophic." CHPL receives about 50% of its funding from the state and the other 50% from local levies.
"We would be at a $14.5 million cut based on the new way things would be done if the House budget were to stand," she says. That's about 29% of the library's state funding.
Republican state lawmakers supporting the new funding model say Ohio will still be the top state in the nation for library funding, spending roughly $90 a year per person on libraries, almost double the national average. They say the new approach will bring transparency to funding that is currently lacking.
But library advocates point out that Ohio's library funding has been flat for more than two decades. Twenty-five years ago, the Public Library Fund gave the state's public libraries $491 million. In addition, the roughly $7 million in federal funding Ohio libraries receive every year via the Institute for Library and Museum Services could dry up. The Trump administration has cut most of that organization's staffing.
Other provisions in the House budget related to libraries also have been controversial, including one that would require libraries to store material that is related to gender or sexual orientation in an area not accessible to minors. Some library officials have contested the rule as vague and hard to comply with.
Brehm-Heeger says the funding reductions under the House budget would impact Hamilton County especially hard because it proposes divvying up library funding by county population.
She says that approach doesn't take into account the facts that CHPL is one of the busiest libraries in the country, or that it serves "thousands" of people outside the county who are card holders or who borrowed more than 70,000 physical books CHPL loaned to other libraries across the state last year. Brehm-Heeger also points out CHPL is the only public library system in Hamilton County, unlike other counties which have multiple.
The Ohio Council of Libraries estimates 39 counties in the state would see funding reductions under the House's funding model.
Lane Library in Butler County is another system concerned about the proposed model. Public Relations Director Carrie Mancuso says Lane gets about 65% of its budget from state funding and is "disappointed" lawmakers might bypass DeWine's suggested funding increases.
Mancuso says it isn't clear exactly how the proposed new model could impact Lane. She says the budget process is ongoing and the library hopes for a better outcome as the process goes forward.
"We just really want to keep an eye on what's coming," she said. "Obviously this is of great concern to all public libraries in Ohio, as it is to the Lane Library."
The House could vote on the budget next week. It will then go to the Senate for reconciliation. DeWine must sign the budget before the end of the fiscal year June 30.
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