Many libraries in the state had been making contingency plans for reduced funding, among them the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, whose trustees voted to close the main branch on Sundays and eliminate a few staff positions. But PLCHC Executive Director Kim Fender said the library board would wait until Gov. Taft has signed the budget before reevaluating its decision.
“The funding will remain flat, which is much better than we had expected,” Fender said in the June 21 Cincinnati Post. “So we’re grateful for that.” The problem, however, is that the state is reducing income tax revenues by 21% by July 2009. With the cuts phased in, she said, the library’s share will drop by 12.6% in July 2007 and 4.2% in 2008 and 2009.
Meanwhile, libraries are urging Taft, who has until June 30 to approve the budget, to use his line-item veto to strike language allowing libraries to charge fees for videotapes, CDs, DVDs, or internet use—an amendment introduced in April by Rep. Bill Seitz (R-Green Township) as a way to offset state revenue losses. “This is directly opposed to what Andrew Carnegie wanted libraries to be, free and open,” Toledo–Lucas County Public Library Director Clyde Scoles said in the June 24 Toledo Blade.
The Ohio Library Council’s Director of Government and Legal Services Lynda Murray told the Columbus Dispatch that libraries were also concerned lawmakers would use the amendment as an excuse to cut library revenues in the future.
Posted June 24, 2005.