Expect cuts if levy fails, director says

If the levy passes, the library will buy more materials and computers.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- If a 0.6-mill additional continuing levy on the May 2 ballot fails, at least $250,000 a year would have to be cut from the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library's budget, library trustees have decided.
Trustees decided last month that areas subject to cuts are staff, hours and services at all locations, the bookmobile and delivery service for homebound patrons.
Library Director Robert D. Briell said trustees have told him that if the levy fails this time they don't intend to make another levy attempt.
"We don't want to make cuts if we can help it. If the levy doesn't go through, the board is definitely going to make cuts," Briell said. Library hours will certainly be reduced, he said. "If you cut hours, there will be staff cuts also. People will lose their jobs," he said.
The levy on the May 2 ballot, which would generate $1,706,979 annually, is considerably smaller than the 1 mill levy that was defeated by 1,775 votes and lost by a 52-48 percent margin last fall. The failed levy would have raised $2.2 million annually.
Operating costs rising
If the levy passes next month, collection of the new revenue will begin in January 2007. Briell said the new levy is needed because operating costs have risen, but the library system's funding hasn't increased since 1998. It's also needed because the system faces $250,000 annual reductions in state funding over the next two years, he said.
The library system's budget dropped from $5.5 million in 2002 to $4.2 million last year because of a decline in state funding, Briell said.
Plans for revenue
If the levy passes, Briell said, Sunday hours will be restored at the main library in Warren; the annual materials acquisition budget will double from $500,000 to at least $1 million; additional computers will be bought; and the 1990-vintage bookmobile, which has traveled more than 200,000 miles, will be replaced.
Besides the main library in Warren, the system has branches in Brookfield, Cortland, Howland, Liberty and Lordstown.
Library officials have dropped plans to build a new branch in Cortland, and trustees have discussed selling the land on which the new branch there was to have been built. No new buildings are planned, Briell said.
The levy would add $18.37 a year to the property taxes for a home appraised at $100,000, according to the county auditor.
"It's a quality-of-life issue. If you want good schools, you need good libraries. You've got to be willing to pay for it, I think," Briell said. "Companies are not going to come to Trumbull County if the schools are terrible and the libraries are terrible," he added.
Library Trustees Ellen Dieter and Jim Duff are chairwoman and treasurer, respectively, of the levy campaign.
milliken@vindy.com