That would hit many Ohio libraries hard. The Washington County Public Library in Marietta, for example, gets 96% of its budget—about $2.3 million—from the fund. “We’re planning for the worst and hoping for the best,” WCPL Director Larry White said in the January 25 Marietta Times. The library has launched a fundraising campaign to help offset expected losses and plans to reduce staff through attrition.
Other libraries fear that most or all of their branches would close if the fund is rescinded. Bucyrus Public Library Director Jim Wilkins was one of a group of Crawford County government representatives who wrote a letter to Taft urging him to go back to the original funding formulas and not make any further cuts in the distribution.
“As indicated in our letter to the governor,” Wilkins said in the January 25 Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum, “this is no less than a battle of survival, as the governor and the state legislature attempt to resolve state budgetary problems by shifting the tax burden to our local residents.” Wilkins worries that all four county branches would close if the funds are reduced.
Ohio Senate Majority Floor Leader Randy Gardner (R-Wood County) indicated to community groups in early January that he was committed to protecting the fund and that better options for dealing with the shortfall are available. The County Commissioners Association of Ohio is hosting meetings in several counties through mid-February to discuss local government funding issues.
Posted January 28, 2005.