More than four months after it received $400,000 to keep four inner-city branches open, the Chatham-Effingham-Liberty Regional Library in Savannah, Georgia, still has not decided how to spend it. There are no permanent signs outside the branches to indicate their hours or identify them as libraries, according to the September 5 Savannah Morning News.
An August 15 financial review by the Chatham County finance department revealed that the library’s spending from its $5.3-million budget so far was $900,000 below what it should have been. But, as Assistant Library Director Bill Johnson reminded county officials, issues beyond the library’s control are the cause: Construction crews have delayed the reopening of the main library on Bull Street, county commissioners have slowed approval of several new positions, and the inner-city library committee has not decided how to spend the extra funds.
The renovated Bull Street facility was supposed to open in January, but construction is far from complete. Chatham County Commission Chair Billy Hair told reporters that if the library doesn’t open on schedule, the money for its opening would go back into the general fund.
Posted September 13, 1999.