SHELBY, Ohio–The Shelby Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution on Nov. 24 to allow Shelby’s Marvin Memorial Library to go to the ballot in May.
Due to decreased revenue and cuts in state funding, Marvin Memorial Library will ask Shelby voters to pass a 1.75-mil tax levy in May. Garland Gates, president of the library’s Board of Trustees, stated with the median home in Shelby valued at $96,300, in one year’s time the levy could generate $58.98, or 16 cents per day, for an average home.
“Since 2001 we have lost 28 percent of our support from the state of Ohio,” said Gates. “I need not tell you how (schools) have also lost support in state funding.”
Gates explained the library’s fiscal officer Leslie Haines created a long-range plan projecting out both revenues and expenses and came up with three options.
“The first option was do nothing and that was clearly not an option,” said Gates. “We looked at 1 mil and that was insufficient, we looked at 1.5 mil and that was insufficient. So that is why we arrived at the figure of 1.75 mil.”
Marvin Memorial Library is not the only public library feeling the financial pressure. According to a report from the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library, all of Ohio’s public libraries will be challenged to balance decreasing revenue with increasing demand for up-to-date technology and digital resources.
“We are in the process of doing some technology updates but that is with a grant from The Shelby Foundation,” said library director Kathy Webb. “We were several years behind our technology plan and we had equipment that simply wasn’t adequate, it wasn’t working anymore. While we are putting in some new computers we’re doing it with help from the community.”
Currently public libraries receive state funding through the Public Library Fund (PLF), which is a percentage of the state’s General Revenue Fund (GRF) that is made up of personal income tax, sales tax, business taxes and other sources. In 2008, the PLF was set at 2.22 percent of the GRF, but that amount has been cut, frozen and recalculated several times. Public libraries now receive 1.66 percent of the GRF, the same level it was in 1996.
In real dollars, state funding for Ohio’s public libraries has been cut by more than $105 million since 2008. Should the 1.75-mil tax levy fail, further budget cuts would put Marvin Memorial Library in a difficult position.
“One thing that’s been considered is cutting some of the benefits that the staff receives,” said Webb. “It would be hard to cut staff more than what we already have – we are at half of what we were 10 years ago. It would get down to nitpicking because we have already made many adjustments.”
In 2012, the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library passed a 3.9-mil levy that prevented further cuts from being made. The local tax levy provides 60 percent of the library’s total operating budget; in 2013 the library reported $7,489,465 in total revenues and $7,816,183 in expenditures. According to Webb, Marvin Memorial Library has a general operating budget of $748,699 for 2014 with an approximate $100,000 carryover.
“We received a generous donation from the estate of Elizabeth Haines for $155,972 – that amount is really what is keeping us afloat,” said Webb. “The basic source of income comes from the state and the PLF, our portion for 2014 was approximately $440,000 and our estimated amount for 2015 will be $414,000. We are looking at cutting materials and services because we have nothing else left to cut.”
Webb noted the importance of a community library is not to be understated, as Marvin Memorial Library serves many purposes. The library first began as a reading room in 1897.
“We are a community meeting place, we are a place where people can come not only for the traditional information and books but for entertainment, for gathering together, for meeting a variety of needs especially additional education,” said Webb. “We are a community resource, and it’s time for us to turn to our community as many other libraries in the state have done.”
“We are a community resource, and it’s time for us to turn to our community as many other libraries in the state have done.”
Kathy Webb, director of Marvin Memorial Library
