Seattle City Council unanimously approves $480M library levy for ballot

In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, the Seattle City Council approved Mayor Katie Wilson’s proposed library levy.

City councilmembers voted 8-0 to send the $480 million levy to the Aug. 4 ballot after the committee voted to raise the levy by $70 million last week.

BREAKING: The Seattle City Council has officially voted (8-0) to place the 2026 Library Levy renewal on the upcoming August 4 primary ballot. 🗳️
Learn more about the proposed measure:
https://t.co/Xr08BZN9ZL

— Seattle City Council (@SeattleCouncil) April 14, 2026

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson previously unveiled the $410 million library levy proposal in March.

Wilson said the seven-year plan would maintain hours at all 27 branches and fund security, earthquake-safety upgrades, building maintenance, new books, and enhanced technology.

“Seattle is a city of readers,” Wilson said at a news conference last month. “I believe each of these new investments is critical to ensuring a strong library system for years to come.”

Property tax increase would fund Seattle library’s operations, maintenance, technology

The new library levy would increase property taxes to generate roughly $480 million over seven years, and replace the $219.1 million levy approved by voters in 2019, which expires this year.

For homeowners, the levy would cost 19 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. Wilson’s office said that would amount to about $163 a year for a home valued at $872,000, the median value in Seattle. The 2019 levy currently accounts for one‑third of the library’s total budget.

Under the initially proposed $410 million library levy, funding would be directed towards five different investment categories: Hours and access, collections, technology, maintenance, and administration.

The City Council has yet to provide an updated investment plan for the newly approved $480 million library levy, but has announced the investment plans for the $410 million levy.

Hours and access would receive $218.4 million for supporting library operating hours, outreach and engagement services throughout Seattle, and programming for children ages zero through five.

Collections and materials would receive $58.5 million to increase the variety of collections with new titles, provide additional online resources, and curate a local history collection.

For building and maintenance, $85.9 million would be directed toward routine and major maintenance of the library’s heavily used buildings to prolong their lifespan.

Library technology would recieve $38.2 million for replacements and upgrades to the library’s technology infrastructure, including the Wi-Fi access for 27 branches, and replacing equipment such as routers, servers, cabling, computers, tablets, and copiers.

Lastly, levy administration would receive $9 million for the costs of centralized service, provided by the City of Seattle, with human resources staffing receiving $2.3 million.

Contributing: Frank Lenzi, KIRO Newsradio

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