The state had threatened to reclaim its portion of library materials—some 20,000 books—and suspend about $500,000 in services July 1 if the funding dispute, which has been going on for a year, was not resolved.
At a June 28 meeting in the secretary of state’s office in Nashville, Gleaves said he would wait for the commission’s July meeting and in the meantime “review any financial information that the county would like to send us regarding the funding of the library that might make a difference in the final outcome.”
Dickson County Public Library Director Greg Miller told commissioners that he was sick of dealing with delays. “I understand your frustration, but it’s high time to deal with this issue,” he said at the meeting. “It seems like every time we meet, every time we talk about this it comes up to the issue of the MOE, that’s not right and that’s not fair. Well, it’s not right or fair to allow Dickson citizens to lose 20,000 books and materials that their children, your grandchildren, use on a daily basis.”
Gleaves said none of the state’s 95 counties have ever lost their books and state funding for failing to meet the MOE. However, the Morristown–Hamblen Library could face a similar sanction if it does not restore $15,000 it cut from the library budget two years ago, according to the June 29 Morristown Citizen Tribune. The library board was able to persuade the state that the county performed in-kind services of equal value, but “that’s not going to fly much longer,” said Board Chair Bill Brittain, who has asked commissioners for an additional $19,400 for next year.
Posted July 2, 2004.