12/11/07 - County will not help fund city library

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

THAT WAS QUICK....

County officials have rejected a proposal to shift city library costs to the county as the city searches for ways to save money.

The Cortland Free Library might not be the place for the city to save some money in next year’s budget, and officials seem to be leaning toward asking the library to pay its own way a bit more this year.

However, the Common Council could always cut its funding for the year, which could force either the county or the library to make up the difference.

Library officials met with the county’s Budget and Finance Committee and city officials midday Monday and described the funding for the library and the vagaries of library charters as granted by the state.

It was concluded that a countywide library system would not likely present any significant cost-saving benefits, making county officials wary of picking up the just over $200,000 in funding that the city provides to the Cortland Free Library each year.

The library’s annual budget is about $400,000, said Diane Ames, president of the library’s Board of Trustees.

In addition to the city, the town of Cortlandville has appropriated $79,000 in its 2008 budget for library funding, and next year Truxton will provide $400 and Virgil will contribute about $1,500.

The Finger Lakes Library System is funneling $10,500 of state money to the Cortland Free Library each year, said Finger Lakes Library System Executive Director Karen Creenan.

These monies represent the total operating budget of the library for the year, at about $300,000. The operating budget pays for improvements to the facilities as well as wages, utilities and supplies.

Interest on the library endowment, donations and gifts, as well as collected fines, make up the rest of the budget. These monies are used mainly for improving the library’s catalogue, which includes purchasing books, magazines, audiobooks, and other materials, and preparing them for use.

The interest on the library’s $2.3 million endowment contributes between $65,000 and $75,000 to the budget each year.

The majority of that endowment is donor-restricted, Ames said, meaning that it can only go toward certain expenses. Most library donors specify that their donations be used to purchase books, she added. Only about 20 percent of the endowment is not donor directed.

The endowment earns as much as 10 percent interest a year and much of that interest is returned to the endowment so it is actually growing, by about $100,000 a year.