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Library branch stays open, for now
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The West Branch Library of the Youngstown and Mahoning County Library. The Mahoning Library will be open two more months.
The board also approved placing two levies on the November ballot.
BOARDMAN — Patrons of the West Branch library will have at least two more months to use the facility.
The building and sites committee of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County recommended closing the branch as a cost-cutting measure. But members of the board of trustees voted Thursday to give Youngstown Councilwoman Carol Rimedio-Righetti, D-4th, time to work with her constituents to raise money to help defray the cost of keeping the branch open.
More than 14,000 people live in the 4th Ward where West Branch is located, Rimedio-Righetti said. The branch is at 2815 Mahoning Ave.
“This library has been here for many years,” she said. “It is something on Mahoning Avenue that is a solid point in our ward.”
There are many schools in the area surrounding West Branch, she said.
“We need to have somewhere in this ward for [the students] to read and have programs,” she said. “Not everybody has a car that could drive all over Mahoning County to go to a library.”
Linda Gillette, a West Side resident, said, “I personally use the library. I feel it brings value to the street, to that area.”
The West Side is home for many people, she noted.
“And those people want to get ahead, too,” she said. “It’s not just the people in the communities where there’s more money.”
Faced with a 20 percent decrease in funding from the state, the board has made cuts in other areas this year, including reducing its book budget and renegotiating its natural-gas contract. Even with the cuts, the library system still has a $100,000 shortfall, Carlton Sears, library director, said.
Because of the library system’s financial problems, the board approved a resolution authorizing a 1-mill replacement levy and a 0.5-mill additional levy for 5 years on the November ballot. In November 2005, a 1-mill, 5-year replacement levy passed. That levy generates about $3.8 million annually. Board members did not say at Thursday’s meeting how much money the proposed levy would generate.
The levies, to be voted as one issue, need authorization from the county commissioners to be placed on the ballot.
In another effort to balance the budget, the board approved a rollback to 2008 salary levels for administrative staff. They are in negotiations with union employees.
Rather than close West Branch immediately, Rimedio-Righetti asked the board to give her two months to seek financial assistance from citizens in the ward and Chaney High School alumni who have moved out of the area but want to help their hometown.
In a 6-5 vote, the board agreed to wait two months to see if the councilwoman‘s efforts are successful.
Sears estimates it will cost about $41,000 to operate West Branch for two months.