Wake County Has a Library Bond on Voters’ Ballots This Fall. How Would the Money Be Spent?

The town of Wendell has outgrown its tiny community library. It’s easy to see why, even before you’ve stepped inside.

The town is buzzing, stretching, bursting with new development. Blocks of townhomes in various stages of construction line the roads, punctuated by backhoes and clear-cut lots ripe for something new. The once-sleepy suburb added 5,000 new residents between 2020 and 2023, bringing its population to 14,400. By 2030, town officials expect that number to double.

The library hasn’t quite kept up. Its single, rectangular room is divided into a children’s area on one side and an adult section on the other. Handmade paper cutouts of trees adorn the walls, and colorful book displays announce the arrival of autumn and Hispanic Heritage Month. There are a handful of public computers in the back corner, and a friendly librarian sits behind the front desk. It’s the picture of small-town coziness—but like Wendell, it’s bursting at the seams.

This November, the very last question on Wake County ballots will ask voters if they support a $142 million bond to improve the public library system. The bond would pay for a new, bigger library in Wendell, as well as two new libraries in Apex and Rolesville, the replacement of the Athens Drive Community Library in Raleigh, the expansion of the Fuquay-Varina Community Library into a regional library, and much-needed renovations to several other libraries within the system.

The last time Wake County passed a library bond was in 2007, when voters agreed to direct $45 million to library renovations and replacements. In the intervening 17 years, the county has exploded with newcomers and its nationally acclaimed library system has aged.

“We have over a million residents. That is a lot of people that we are trying to offer library service to,” says Katrina Vernon, assistant director of the Wake County Public Library System. “Something that is really core to our mission is making sure that we are building, maintaining, and growing our library system in an equitable way.” 

Because Wake County is so large and its population is relatively decentralized, the library system looks a bit different from those in other counties. There’s no main, downtown library; instead, Wake has eight large “regional” libraries and 14 smaller “community” libraries. Even with this decentralized system, there are still many people who don’t live near a library.

One of Wake’s main goals with the library bond is to increase the number of residents who can drive to a library in under 10 minutes. The addition of new libraries in Apex and Rolesville would put 87 percent of the population within that radius, up from 84.7 percent currently.

The bond also contains about $43 million to renovate existing libraries, including new carpets, furniture, roofs, HVAC, and security systems. 

“Of course we want to grow our library system,” Vernon says. “But we also want to make sure that our existing facilities are kept accessible, safe, and beautiful and are places that people want to come and use.”

Vernon and her colleagues have spent the past two years assessing the system’s needs and choosing which projects to prioritize. They identified underserved areas and calculated which libraries have gone the longest without large-scale renovations. 

They also decided to replace the Wendell and Athens Drive libraries because the former is too small and the latter is located inside a high school, which county officials decided is suboptimal for students and library patrons alike. Feedback from community members and the Board of Commissioners shaped the bond proposal, which includes money for a “new facility” dedicated to digital equity. 

Toni Kenion, a member of the all-volunteer Wake County Library Commission, says the plans for this facility are still in flux. It won’t necessarily be a traditional library, Kenion says, but whatever form it takes, it will be designed to support underserved communities. 

The library system’s regular budget doesn’t contain money for these types of projects—it only covers everyday operating costs like buying books and paying staff. To majorly expand and renovate the system, the county needs to raise extra money. 

“The most efficient way for us to fund [that] is through a bond,” Vernon says. “So we have to make sure that Wake County voters are in agreement with this, because there is a tax impact.”

If it passes, the bond would cost taxpayers $2.50 per $100,000 of assessed property value per year. That means a homeowner whose house is worth $474,750—the median property value for Wake in April 2024—would pay an extra $11.87 annually. Work would begin in fiscal year 2026 and be staggered over several years.

“Not just a place to borrow books”

As Wake County grows, Vernon says libraries are more critical than ever.

“Libraries are the last place that you can go and be there all day, and not have to spend any money, and not be asked why you’re there,” Vernon says.

“We see people who are unhoused, who need a place to stay that is warm or cool, and they’ll be in our facilities all day. We also see people who work from home, and they come in and they work from our facilities all day. We want all of the people to come use the libraries for whatever reason they have—we really do not place judgment on how they use our libraries.”

In preparation for the library bond referendum, Vernon and her colleagues asked the public how they use the library and what they want to see in the future. 

“They want the ability to treat [the library] like their living room. They want to be comfortable there,” she says.

Some people come for the books. Others need access to technology and free Wi-Fi. The library has resources for seniors, job seekers, students, and researchers.

“It’s not just a place to borrow books anymore,” says Lisa Mead, who chairs the library commission. “There’s so much additional library programming going on.”

To Lynn Edmonds, a Wake County school board member who also serves on the library commission, investing in libraries is one way to safeguard against censorship and book bans.

“As someone that believes in the freedom to read and is opposed to banning books, if people really want to honor the freedom to read, there is no better way to advocate for that than to support this library bond,” Edmonds says. 

A new library in Rolesville

Rolesville is the only municipality in the county that doesn’t have its own library. Town officials are eager to see that change with the passage of the library bond. 

Rolesville mayor Ronnie Currin says the town has been asking for a library for 17 years. His predecessor, Frank Eagles, advocated for it throughout his 12-year term. Currin has been working on the project since he was elected in 2019. In that time, he says, the town has grown exponentially, and it no longer makes sense for residents to schlep through traffic to visit the library in Wake Forest or Zebulon. 

At this point, Currin says, “we need our own—just like we need our own grocery stores.”

The INDY met Currin, Kenion, and Rolesville communications specialist Kandice Scarberry at Rolesville Town Hall to discuss the library bond. All three expressed excitement about the bond and remarked on the relatively small tax impact.

“Let’s say that [you own a] $465,000 home, you’re looking at around an $11.50 tax increase,” Kenion remarks.

“You can’t go to McDonald’s for $11.50!” Currin replies.

Scarberry, 29, grew up in Rolesville, in a low-income household without internet access. She remembers making frequent trips to Wake Forest to visit the library, where she’d pick out books and use the free Wi-Fi. 

For families like hers, Scarberry says having a library in town offers “so much potential that people don’t even realize is there.”

“They’ve been so accustomed to just dealing with it,” she says. “Making their lives that much easier is so important.”

Chloe Courtney Bohl is a corps member for Report for America. Reach her at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].