NORTHEAST
SUBURBAN LIFE
Your Community Press newspaper serving Blue Ash, Montgomery, Sycamore Township, Symmes Township
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016
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BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS
Sycamore will vote on levy in November Marika Lee mlee1@communitypress.com
MARIKA LEE/THE COMMUNITY PRESS
Children listen to a story during a Healthy Roots Foundation event at the Madeira Public Library.
Have you checked out THE LIBRARY lately? Branches open doors to display host of programs, services Jennie Key, Marika Lee & Sheila Vilvens jkey@communitypress.com mlee1@communitypress.com svilvens@communitypress.com
E
ven temperatures in the teens can’t deter local library patrons. A few minutes before the doors fly open, patrons begin lining up outside the Deer Park branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Arms loaded with books, they are eager to return what they borrowed and pick up a few new reads. Across town in Anderson Township the scene is the same. An empty parking lot quickly swells to 20 parked cars as the doors are unlocked in the morning and patrons welcomed inside. The public library continues to be an integral part of communities in Greater Cincinnati. The word library immediately brings to mind a building full of shelves of books and smart, bookish people to help you find the one you want. Even the name contains the Latin work for book. But the library has expanded like a Narnian wardrobe in recent years. While there is still a building filled with books, the universe of services and information for which it serves as a gateway is expanding exponentially and at a dizzying speed. Greg Edwards, deputy director of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County says that’s not likely to change. His library system, the fifth
CHOCOLATE IS LANGUAGE OF LOVE 7A Truffle recipes for kids and adults.
SHEILA VILVENS/THE COMMUNITY PRESS
Members of the Griswold family say that over the years they have been regulars at the Deer Park Branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. There during a recent family visit were: Julie Griswold, Diane Griswold and Jenny and Dan Ramsey.
The Sycamore Community Schools will have a levy on the ballot in 2016. “For many years we have been able to say we don’t need a levy this year. 2016 is the year when we are going to have to put a levy on the ballot,” Treasurer Beth Weber said. The district plans to put a new 6.5-mill operating levy on the ballot in November. The levy,which is for a continuing period of time, would cost residents an additional $288 annualWeber ly in property taxes for each $100,000 of market property value. Weber said the levy would generate $11 million per year and will begin collecting in January 2017, if it passes. “This is the first operating millage increase since 2004. Instead of the normal six-year cycle that we have seen Sycamore be in over its history, we are looking at a 12-year span this time. When you have that kind of success you need to go back and reflect on what made that happen and what you were able to achieve during that time frame,” Weber said. Sycamore’s last levy was a 5.5-mill five-year levy passed in 2004. It was renewed in 2009 as a continuing levy with no mileage increase. Weber added the district was able to spread the levy for 12 years and kept the district’s tax rate low. Of the 25 school districts in Hamilton County, Sycamore has the 23rd lowest tax rate. The proposed levy is continuing and expected to last at least five years. The board had the option of placing the levy on the ballot in a special election in August or during the general election in November. It opted for the general election, for better turnout. “The community will need to understand that if it doesn’t pass it will not be business as usual,” Board President Jean Staubach said. The state eliminated the tangible personal property tax reimbursement in 2015. It resulted in a $9 million loss for Sycamore, about 12 percent of the district’s budget. Board Member Diane Adamec said See LEVY, Page 2A
busiest in the country, according to the 2015 Public Library Data Service statistical report, handed out its 600,000th library card in August and circulated more than 18 million items through its 41 branches. Lots of those items were books, and he says books will always be at the heart of library services, but his libraries are offering a lot more these days to meet the needs of those 600,000-plus card holders. Libraries can help patrons learn to download e-books and other electronic items and use e-readers. In addition to books, magazines and newspapers can be checked out in electronic form. Looking for a job? Your local library can help. Research for a school paper? Your local library can help. Need a com-
YOUR ONLINE HOME Find local news from your neighborhood at Cincinnati.com/ communities
puter to use for a couple hours? Try your local library. Homework too tough? Many branches have homework help. Delight your inner crafter? Entertain your toddler? Feed hungry kids over the summer? Check out your local library. Want to learn how to sew? Make a button? Print and bind a book? Main Library’s MakerSpace. A makerspace is a place where creative people can gather, create, invent and learn. Customers of the Library have access to 3D printers, audio and visual equipment, laser cutters and engravers, sewing machines, cameras and other hardware and software tools that they can use for free to create pretty much anything they can See LIBRARY, Page 2A
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MARIKA LEE/ THE COMMUNITY PRESS
Blue Ash residents fill out ballots at the Blue Ash Recreation Center. The Sycamore Community Schools will have a levy on the ballot in 2016.
Vol. 52 No. 46 © 2016 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED