Trumbull libraries eyeing funding split

WARREN — Library directors for the seven library systems in Trumbull County plan to meet soon to discuss distribution of about $8.6 million in 2008 state library funding that the libraries will divide.

The negotiations could be a little more difficult than those in the past, however, as the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library will seek a larger percentage of the money.

Robert Briell, director of the county system, said he was successful in getting an additional 3 percent of the money — from 45 percent to 48 percent — allocated to the county system in negotiations for 2006 and 2007.

But Briell said his system should be receiving a larger share of the money. He did not specify a new percentage he would try to get.

Briell said the county system serves 71 percent of the county, buys more than half of the materials and has more than half of the staff and buildings.

“Whatever usage percentage you want to use, we are well above 50 percent, and we should get a larger percentage of the money,” Briell said.

Meanwhile, Patrick Finan, director of the McKinley Memorial Library in Niles, said he plans to have a meeting among the six smaller libraries — Niles, Girard, Kinsman, Hubbard, Newton Falls and Bristol — before holding a negotiating session with the county library system.

“We’re open for negotiations at this point,” he said, declining to comment when asked what effect a decrease in funding might have on the smaller libraries. Other library directors either could not be reached to comment or directed inquiries to Finan.

Briell explained that the libraries have used a formula based on population, amount of money spent on materials and other things for more than 20 years to arrive at distribution of the money. Since 2002, however, the state’s Library & Local Government Support Fund for Trumbull County has been frozen at the same amount.

As a result, any additional money that goes to the county system reduces the amount that goes to the other six libraries, Briell confirmed.

Briell noted that the county library system, which has branches in Brookfield, Cortland, Howland, Liberty and Lordstown and a Bookmobile, has two levies that pay about 23 percent of the system’s budget. The state money provides about 75 percent of the budget, and fees pay about 2 percent.

The county library’s share of the county’s 2006 distribution of $8,674,553 was $4,163,785, Briell said. The state earmarks 5.7 percent of its income tax revenue for libraries, he added.

Only one of the smaller libraries — in Newton Falls — has an operating levy, Briell said. Hubbard passed a bond issue to pay for an expansion of its facilities several years ago, he noted.