diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 6537b6ef5..aea81594f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ if(NOT CMAKE_USE_PTHREADS_INIT)
     message(FATAL_ERROR "A POSIX threads (pthread) implementation is required, but was not found.")
 endif()
 
+set(SLS_LOG_MAX_REPORTING_LEVEL sls::logINFO CACHE STRING "set logging level")
 
 option(SLS_USE_SYSTEM_ZMQ "Use system installed libzmq" OFF)
 
@@ -316,9 +317,8 @@ if(NOT TARGET slsProjectOptions)
    target_compile_features(slsProjectOptions INTERFACE cxx_std_17)
 endif()
 
-set(LOG_MAX_REPORTING_LEVEL sls::logINFO CACHE STRING "set logging level")
 target_compile_definitions(slsProjectOptions
-    INTERFACE LOG_MAX_REPORTING_LEVEL=${LOG_MAX_REPORTING_LEVEL}
+    INTERFACE LOG_MAX_REPORTING_LEVEL=${SLS_LOG_MAX_REPORTING_LEVEL}
 )
 
 if (NOT TARGET slsProjectWarnings)
diff --git a/slsSupportLib/include/sls/logger.h b/slsSupportLib/include/sls/logger.h
index 9b949d802..276789635 100644
--- a/slsSupportLib/include/sls/logger.h
+++ b/slsSupportLib/include/sls/logger.h
@@ -27,11 +27,6 @@ enum TLogLevel {
     logDEBUG5
 };
 
-// Compiler should optimize away anything below this value
-#ifndef LOG_MAX_REPORTING_LEVEL
-#define LOG_MAX_REPORTING_LEVEL sls::logINFO
-#endif
-
 #define __AT__                                                                 \
     std::string(__FILE__) + std::string("::") + std::string(__func__) +        \
         std::string("(): ")