Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson pitches $410 million library levy

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and the head of The Seattle Public Library system are laying out their vision for a new $410 million library levy that’s expected to appear on the ballot this August.

Standing alongside Seattle City Councilmember Maritza Rivera and members of the library’s board of trustees at the Central Library branch on Tuesday afternoon, Wilson told reporters that the new levy will further the city’s commitment to a “world-class library system.”

“Our libraries remain at the heart of community life,” Wilson said. “More than 600,000 Seattleites have a library card, and nearly 440,00 are actively using the system. That’s actually amazing numbers.”

RELATED: A 200-year-old book distributor is closing. Here's what that means for public libraries

Wilson said she’s “very confident” that Seattle’s reputation as a city of readers will translate to votes, and lead to a renewal of the 2019 library levy, which is set to expire at the end of 2026. The current levy covers about a third of Seattle Public Library’s budget.

At stake is a library system with several branches over 100 years old, and in need of help to fix or maintain their aging heating and cooling systems, roofs, and accessibility features. The new levy would designate almost $90 million toward tackling building maintenance, including a seismic retrofit of the historic Columbia Branch.

Wilson also highlighted a $12.4 million investment in strengthening the library’s IT systems and cybersecurity as a top priority, after a ransomware attack in 2024 that cost the library more than $1 million.

Seattle Public Library Executive Director and Chief Librarian Tom Fay said one of the biggest challenges the system faces coming out of the pandemic is that many branches don’t have the staffing levels needed to run the programs library users love.

RELATED: Genre fiction and female authors top U.S. libraries' most-borrowed lists in 2025

With nearly $13 million in the proposed levy earmarked for funding more all-ages programs, Fay said he hopes to increase the number of story times, workshops, and classes offered at library branches.

“Any of the enrichment activities, empowerment activities that you can think of,” Fay said. “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 [the levy].”

More than half of the proposed levy’s budget — roughly $218 million — would be designated toward funding branches’ hours and access.

In April 2024, SPL announced it was cutting hours at several branches across the city because of staffing challenges. The new levy will not extend library operating hours, but maintain branches regular open hours. Nearly $8 million of the funding would go toward hiring three security officers and upgrading security systems.

RELATED: Libraries and museums get federal funding back after Trump cuts

Fay said since the pandemic, staff and security have taken de-escalation skills training, which has made a difference in the number of patrons the library has had to suspend via an exclusion order.

She said 10 years ago, libraries had almost 2,000 exclusions.

“We had 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,” Fay said.

The levy would cost the owner of a home valued at $800,000 an additional $152 per year in property taxes.

The Seattle City Council still needs to approve the levy before putting it on the August ballot.