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April 18, 2010

Warren County freeholders approve reducing library budget by more than $200,000

Thursday, April 15, 2010
By BILL WICHERT
The Express-Times
WHITE TWP. | On top of a pending 74 percent drop in total state library funding, Warren County freeholders signed off Wednesday on a more than $200,000 cut in funding this year for the county library system.

County freeholders approved a roughly $6.2 million budget for the county library, marking a reduction of about $240,000 from last year's budget.

Under the 2010 budget approved Wednesday, the county is slated to decrease the amount of county library taxes to be collected by about $540,000. The drop in tax revenue is tempered by drawing money from savings, officials said.

That reduction comes as the county library system deals with a proposed 50 percent cut in state aid and the loss of other services covered by state dollars.

"It's unfortunate to get the double hit this year," Warren County Library Director Maureen Baker Wilkinson said after Wednesday's meeting.

County Freeholder Director Rick Gardner said county officials felt the funding cut was fair and would not hurt library services. Gardner pointed out how the county has approved spending money to create a new Northeast branch of the library as well as set aside dollars for a new library headquarters.

"I think it's appropriate for the board to take this action because it really comes back to the individual families out there that are hurting at this time, and any money that can be saved for them should be saved," Gardner said after Wednesday's meeting.

The county's overall budget for 2010 reduces the amount of taxes to be collected by more than $500,000.

To make up for the county funding cut, Wilkinson said she is looking at purchasing fewer materials and reducing the number of part-time staffing hours. The county reduction is acceptable because of cuts being made across various departments, she said.

"We have to do our bit as well," Wilkinson said.

As part of more than $10 million in cuts under the proposed state budget, the Warren County Library system is slated to see its state aid cut in half to $40,000, Wilkinson said. State support for electronic communications systems also is targeted for elimination, leaving it to the county to pick up the bill, she said.

Because state funding for the inter-library loan program is slated to be cut, no new requests will be accepted after May 1, Wilkinson said. Library users may begin facing fees to access materials from other libraries around the state to sustain the program, she said.

The county library system also is anticipated to lose access to two electronic research databases currently paid for with state dollars, she said. The $170,000 price tag associated with maintaining those databases is too prohibitive for the county to afford, Wilkinson said.

"I'm concerned about the services that we may lose," Wilkinson said.

Reporter Bill Wichert can be reached at 610-258-7171, ext. 3570, or bwichert@express-times.com. Talk about issues in your town at lehighvalleylive.com/forums.

Posted by tumulty at April 18, 2010 1:02 PM

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