(Photo by Amber Phipps) The Washington County Public Library main branch is shown at 615 Fifth St. in Marietta. The library has a wide range of services available to the community.

MARIETTA – Washington County Public Library Director Justin Mayo responded to the tax levy failure from the Ohio primaries election May 5.

Although the renewal levy “passed” in the November election-the votes couldn’t technically be counted due to a problem with the levy information-when the renewal levy appeared this spring it failed by 328 votes.

“We’re (the board) meeting next Wednesday to go over the results,” said Mayo. “We’ll go for another levy in November and if it fails we’ll have to look at cuts moving forward.”

There were 5,530 against the levy with 5,202 for it, according to the Washington County Board of Elections.

The levy would have collected $1,140,880 annually at a rate not exceeding 0.5 mill for each $1 of taxable value. This amounts to $18 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s market value for a period of 10 years commencing in 2026, first due in 2027.

Mayo said based on the precinct numbers, turnout for the election was less compared to last fall and that could’ve been the reason for the levy failure.

The library board will meet at noon on Wednesday.

Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com