{"id":401055,"date":"2026-09-16T02:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T02:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401055\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T02:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T02:00:18","slug":"orange-county-considering-200-million-public-library-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401055\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange County considering $200 million public library budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 The Orange County Commission discussed how to pay for its 15 library branches, with two more on the way, at a public hearing Tuesday evening to set the tentative property millage rate that pays for the library system.<\/p>\n

The proposal county commissioners are considering would raise the budget by 14%, from $175 million this year to $200 million next year.<\/p>\n

Property taxes fund the Orange County Library System, which has its own millage rate, separate from other county government departments.<\/p>\n

County commissioners will hold a second public hearing at 5:01 p.m. Sept. 29, when they are expected to finalize the millage rate and the library budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just a lot going on when you have 15 facilities and two new ones coming, and we\u2019ve also got a book mobile being delivered shortly,” said Steve Powell, the Orange County Library System director and chief executive officer. “There\u2019s just a lot of operational costs there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Air conditioning projects that used to cost $350,000 now cost $1 million, and expenses continue to rise, Powell said.<\/p>\n

A proposed 43% increase in the system’s capital projects budget to $67.8 million would pay for renovations to the downtown branch and help pay for new libraries at Lake Nona and Horizon West, he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The downtown Orlando Public Library, which is part of the Orange County Library System, is undergoing renovations. (Spectrum News\/Keith Landry)<\/p>\n

District 5 Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad said the libraries offer a variety of services, and they are available for free when Orange County residents, even children, get a library card by applying online or visiting any library branch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey provide services, from family services that occur there to education services, programming for communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The libraries offer more than just physical books, Powell said. People check out 2-1\/2 times more electronic books, videos and audio items each month compared to the number of physical books, he said. The downtown branch features a teen books section, flight simulators, a video production room with a green screen, a recording studio with instruments, laser cutters and 3D printers. The budget also includes $12.2 million to pay for future technology improvements, Powell said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Video production equipment is one of the services offered in the downtown Orlando library. (Spectrum News\/Keith Landry)<\/p>\n

Filmmaker Ana Gorayeb used the equipment at Orange County\u2019s downtown Orlando library branch to edit a video from her recent trip to Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. I don\u2019t have a pretty good computer at home,” she said. “So I come here to the Melrose Center, I sit at this Mac, plug in all my things and I\u2019ve been editing for two hours now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The services are worth investing in, Gorayeb said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love libraries. I think it\u2019s something families should be using more often,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The new libraries at Lake Nona and Horizon should be open in the next few months, Powell said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 The Orange County Commission discussed how to pay for its 15 library branches, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,4318,3140,274,770,1337,2287,115,1335,768,139,141,140,99,278,835],"class_list":["post-401055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-community","tag-app-latest-local-state-politics-stories","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-app-top-stories","tag-community-news","tag-keith-landry","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orange-county-fl","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}