TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suncoast Pinellas News

Local Libraries Facing Major Funding Cuts

ADVERTISEMENT

By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: March 14, 2009

TARPON SPRINGS - At a time when they are being utilized more and more, local libraries are feeling the impact of a major budget squeeze from multiple funding sources.

With the coming budget year threatening to produce more of the same, the leaders of north-county libraries have been exploring how they might work together to meet their patrons' needs.

Cari Rupkalvis, director of the Tarpon Springs Public Library, said her library is seeing a significant increase in the number of patrons utilizing its variety of services. People who do not have computers or those who cannot afford to pay for Internet access are turning to the library for help, she said.

People need help conducting job searches, writing resumes and looking up information, Rupkalvis said. They are also turning to the library for entertainment.

The influx of patrons comes at a time when the library is in a cycle of twin budget cuts and the city is trimming expenses on a major scale. In addition, the Pinellas Library Cooperative will have less money to dole out to local libraries.

Rupkalvis said library officials won't know until June exactly how funding cuts would affect library services in Tarpon Springs.

Gene Coppola, director of the Palm Harbor Library, said early estimates suggest the community library faces a loss of property tax revenue and Library Cooperative funding of from 15 percent to 20 percent, or around $160,000, for its 2010 fiscal year. If this happens, the library would have to reduce purchases of materials for its collection and cut programs and services, he said.

"It's going to be tough," Coppola said, referring to next budget year, which begins Oct. 1. "The plan is to try and reduce spending without impacting operations and services the public expects a library to provide."

His main objective will be avoiding cuts in operating hours and reductions in the library's small, overworked staff, Coppola added.

Following the resignation of Marie Miller as director of the East Lake Community Library, Coppola is helping put together its budget for fiscal 2010 as well. It is also facing revenue reductions, he said.

Coppola said he and other North Pinellas library directors have been discussing a worst-case scenario. Under the plan, at least one library in the area would be open every day of the week if north-county libraries were forced to cut operating hours or days because of the cash crunch, he said.

Mary Brown, the Pinellas Library Cooperative executive director, said she is anticipating a loss of local tax revenue and state funding for the coming fiscal year in the range of 15 percent to 20 percent. The County Commission created the co-op in lieu of setting up a county library system.

The co-op gave the Palm Harbor Library $356,000 this fiscal year and the East Lake Library $200,000, according to Brown. The exact amount of how much they would get in 2010 would not be known until June, she said.

Each of the 14 libraries that receive Library Cooperative funding likely would face some reduction because the co-op has less to give, Brown said.

The co-op, Brown said, would cut back in nonessential services first, like potentially eliminating its newsletter. It will strive to protect services such as its literacy programs for the disabled and talking books.

Brown said, with its dependence on property tax revenue, the co-op faces the same funding predicament as cities and local municipal services taxing units.

"Libraries are being used now more than ever and have less funding now more than ever," she said.

Libraries have become an important free resource for information and entertainment, she said.

Residents should remind their state officials to protect state library funding, she said.

This week library directors traveled to lobby the state legislature to keep library funding in the budget.

Mark Schantz can be reached at 727-815-1075 or mschantz@suncoastnews.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT