Library prefers 1.7-mill levy, studies more cuts in hours

By Peter H. Milliken

A library tax levy would compete with a sales-tax levy on the November ballot.

POLAND — In the wake of an 11 percent reduction in state funding, local public library officials are considering a deep cut in library hours and asking the Mahoning County commissioners to place a 1.7-mill combined replacement and additional library levy on the Nov. 3 ballot.

But Carlton Sears, director of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, said, based on his discussions with the commissioners, that the commissioners would prefer to place the library’s current 1-mill levy on the Nov. 3 ballot for renewal and then place an additional library levy on the ballot next May.

“My understanding of why they want to do it is they’re looking at having a sales tax issue on in the fall, and they don’t want to have the ballot crowded with other issues,” Sears said.

The executive committee of the library’s board of trustees reached a consensus Tuesday to ask the commissioners to put the 1.7-mill levy on the ballot this fall, as the full library board previously had requested.

The 1.7-mill, five-year levy, which would consist of a 1-mill replacement and 0.7 additional, would generate $6.87 million annually.

If the commissioners won’t put the 1.7 mills on the November ballot, the committee wants an assurance that they’ll place the 1-mill renewal on the ballot in the fall and place additional library millage on the ballot next May.

The 1-mill, five-year levy, which voters approved in November 2005, generates $3.77 million annually through Dec. 31, 2010.

Sears will meet with the commissioners in their 11 a.m. July 30 staff meeting to present the committee’s consensus.

County Commissioner John A. McNally IV said he has no preference as to the size and type of library levy that should appear on the ballot this fall. The commissioners have until Aug. 20 to put issues on the ballot.

“I have to evaluate it in terms of the sales tax [renewal]. I have to evaluate it in terms of a Children Services Board renewal that we’ve been asked to put on the ballot as well. I have to evaluate the library board in terms of their needs,” McNally said.

“We’ve asked them [library officials] to come up with all of the different options that we can consider as a board,” McNally said.

Anthony T. Traficanti, chairman of the commissioners, Commissioner David N. Ludt, and county Administrator George J. Tablack could not be reached for comment.

The full library board will meet at 4 p.m. July 29 at the Austintown Branch to discuss the levy and to discuss reductions in library hours due to the state funding loss.

“The pie is smaller for everyone. Right now, income is down so far for individuals and for businesses,” said Timothy Bresnahan, a library board executive committee member. The state, the county and the library system are financially troubled, he noted, and the challenge is for the library system is “to provide as much service as we can to as many people” as possible.

Sears presented the executive committee with a scenario under which the combined total operating hours of all the libraries would be reduced by 100 hours per week.

The library system already has announced that Sunday hours will be abolished.

Currently, the main library and its 15 branches are collectively open 744.5 hours per week.

A 100-hour cut would reduce in-library Internet access by 1,500 hours a week and reduce hours of access to library community meeting rooms. It also would slash operating hours for library cafes, which generate income for the system, Sears said.

The library system’s $12,684,641 budget for 2009 reflects a 20 percent drop in state funding from 2008, when the total library budget was $14,189,352.

The most recent 11 percent cut in library funding in the state’s biennial budget will lop off an additional $392,440 for the local system between August and December of this year.

Levy, proposed cuts

The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County has asked the county commissioners to put a tax levy on either the November or May 2010 ballots:

TAX LEVY

November: A 1.7 mill five-year levy, which would consist of a 1-mill replacement and 0.7 additional, would generate $6.87 million annually. If the commissioners won’t put the 1.7 mills on the November ballot, the library’s executive committee wants an assurance that they’ll place the 1-mill renewal on the ballot in the fall. The 1-mill, five-year levy, which voters passed in November 2005, generates $3.77 million annually through Dec. 31, 2010.

May: The executive committee would like the commissioners to place additional library millage on the ballot if they don’t do so in November.

CUTS IN HOURS

Proposal: The combined total operating hours of all the libraries would be reduced by 100 hours per week, which would equate to closing each branch about one day a week. The library system already has announced that Sunday hours will be abolished.

Total branches: 15. The main library is at 305 Wick Ave., Youngstown.

Source: Carlton Sears, library director