Galesburg Public Library faces further cuts

Tight city budget could mean reduced staff, hours

Monday, November 01, 2010

GALESBURG — For the second year running, the Galesburg Public Library may be forced to reduce its operating hours and cut jobs.

The library has reduced staff numbers from 36 to 31 in recent years and a combination of funding problems may mean further reductions in 2011. To offset the need for cutbacks, the library’s board had hoped to raise its share of the city’s property tax levy but the city is planning to present a flat levy to the City Council. The city is in effect setting the library’s levy, without considering the library’s own plans.

“The problem is that they are lumping our levy in with the city’s levy so we don’t have that option to raise ours,” Library Board President Martin Reichel said. “We are not being considered as a separate entity.”

The City Council has knocked back a proposal by city officials to increase the city’s levy by 3 percent and wants to keep its tax levy flat. That appears to mean the library won’t have a chance to increase its levy. The library’s board was seeking a 5 percent increase and presented a budget to the council that included the increase.

It’s not clear if the city is legally allowed to set the library’s levy. The Illinois Local Library Act states, “The library taxes provided for in this act shall be levied by the corporate authorities in the amounts determined by the (library’s) board.”

Like the city and the county, the library has been hit by reductions in state funding, rising pension and health insurance costs and an increase in wages, although staff there make far less than other local public sector workers. About five of the library’s 31 staff earn minimum wage and others make only a dollar or two more than that, library Director Pam Van Kirk said.

Reichel and Van Kirk are appealing to the City Council to consider the library’s plight. In comparison to the share of the property taxes that go to go to schools or the city the library’s share is tiny, meaning any increase in their levy would have a minimal impact on homeowners.

City Finance Director Gloria Osborn said she had been directed by the council to hold down the city’s property tax levy, in which she includes the library’s levy, for next year. She said no increase will be presented to the council, unless they ask otherwise.

Both Osborn and Interim City Manager Craig Whitehead said they were unsure of the legality of the city setting the library’s levy, rather than the council voting on the library board’s request separately.

With the assessed value of homes expected to fall by 2 percent this year, the library’s tax income could actually fall. The library runs on a lean budget of roughly $1.5 million a year, the bulk of which comes from property taxes, according to Reichel.

“Last year we had our budget cut by over $90,000, which forced us to close on Sundays and we had to defer any equipment replacement like computers and that sort of thing,” he said.

He had hoped a new phone system and computers could be purchased next year, but those items are likely to be axed unless the council decides to help out. Budgets to buy books, periodicals and audiovisual items have all been cut. The cuts come at a time when use of many of the services offered by the library is increasing. For example, the use of Internet services at the library rose by almost 18 percent last year.

Van Kirk said most of the library’s money was spent on personnel. That means that if things don’t improve, the library may have to cut staff and either reduce the library’s daily hours, or close completely for a second day in addition to Sundays.

One council member is at least willing to consider allowing the library to proceed with an increase in its property tax levy.

“It is a jewel in the community,” Alderwoman Karen Lafferty, Ward 5, said. “I’d be willing to look at the possibility of a small increase just for the library.”

Reichel said the library wants to raise its levy by 5 percent, which would trigger a truth-in-taxation hearing.
“We have no problem with that,” he said.

But some council members are adamantly opposed to any increase in property taxes.

“I said no property tax increases and that’s what I meant all the way across the board,” said Alderman Wayne Allen, Ward 6.