Next year's budget is down about $100,000 from this year.

Next year's budget is down about $100,000 from this year.
AUSTINTOWN -- The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County continues to look for new revenue sources to help offset the impact of state budget cuts the past three years.
Since 2001, the county library system has been losing about $900,000 annually, according to a report prepared by Library Director Carlton Sears.
Funding from the state's Library and Local Government Support Fund has been declining during that three-year period. The state funding accounted for about 85 percent of this year's library budget.
Sears' recommendations to the library board of trustees have included various development initiatives, approving a conservative budget and discussing how to approach the library's operating levy, set to expire Dec. 31, 2005.
The property tax levy brings in about $1.2 million each year. Officials at Thursday's board meeting approved an $11.7 million budget for 2005, down from the $11.8 million budget figure adopted at the December 2003 meeting.
Fund raising
In response to the reduction in funds, the library will continue with various development and marketing activities.
Those include expanding fund-raising efforts by the Friends of the Library, forming a literary society, and applying for grants.
In recent years, the library system has been able to come up with alternate funding sources to largely offset the effects of the budget cuts.
They include revenue from cafes and meeting rooms at the new Poland and Austintown branches, plus fines and charges for the use of copiers and printers.
Sears said the new revenue sources have generated about $192,000 each year.
Various grants also have helped the libraries, Sears noted. A 2004 Summer Reading Club and money from the Ladies Professional Golf Association brought in around $18,000 this year, he noted.
Meanwhile, contract negotiations that began in mid-November between the library administration and members of the District 1199 Public Library Association of Youngstown are continuing, said Janet Loew, public relations director. The union's contract expires Jan. 31.