By SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writer - sterry@starbeacon.com
ASHTABULA — The Ashtabula County District Library will place a 2-mill tax levy on the primary ballot May 4, the board of trustees voted unanimously Thursday night.
The Ashtabula County District Library (ACDL) serves all or part of 21 of the county’s 27 townships through the main branch on West 44th Street, the Geneva library on Sherman Street and the county Bookmobile, which serves about 40 schools, day care centers, senior centers and many of the county’s smaller communities.
“State funding for libraries has been on a downward trend since 2001,” said Martha Shippy, ACDL board president. “Last year’s state budget reduced support by more than one-third compared to 2008. We’ve taken measures to cope for this year but at a tremendous cost in the level of service to the public.”
Only residents living within ACDL’s designated service area will have the opportunity to vote on the levy.
Library trustees are expected to meet in special session early next month to set the final millage and pass a resolution formally asking the Ashtabula County commissioners to place the issue on the ballot.
The Ashtabula County Board of Elections must receive all the necessary resolutions by Feb. 17.
Shippy said: “The board feels it’s essential not only to replace the funding cut by the state and the services we’ve had to cut as a result, but also to plan for the future of the library, (a) future that most of us expect will include more cuts in state funding in future budgets.”
ACDL patrons have seen a 30 percent reduction in hours of operation; the Bookmobile schedule reduced to three days a week; sharply curtailed programs for children, teens and adults; discontinued magazine and database subscriptions; and drastically reduced purchases of new materials since last summer, when the current state budget was passed in Columbus.
Library patrons have donated dozens of books and magazine subscriptions in response, said Bill Tokarczyk, library director.
“And while we’re extremely grateful for this generosity, it can’t begin to replace the lost state funding.”
Current projections indicate state funding for ACDL this year likely will be at least $100,000 less than 2009, and passage of the levy would enable the library to restore hours, programs and book and media purchases.
ACDL, like most libraries in Ohio, has been funded more than 90 percent by the state since the mid-1980s. Since 2008, the state has cut annual funding by $400,000, and by more than $600,000 annually since its peak in 2001, Tokarczyk said.
“Between the state cuts, quirks in the formula that governs distribution of library funds among the county’s eight libraries, losses in investment income because of the weak economy and some other factors, we’re operating on about $1 million a year less than we had in 2001,” he said. “We cannot meet the needs of library users on this budget, and of all the possibilities we’ve looked at for additional funding, the levy is the only one that holds the promise of bringing the budget into line with the needs of the community.”
