Supervisors create committee to look at long-term funding
options
After several discussions across three days time, the San Benito
County Board of Supervisors approved the San Benito County Free
Library budget with a temporary due pass just after noon on July
21.
The delay came in part because Librarian Nora Conte had put
together a budget that included $82,000 in cuts, largely from grant
funding she was able to bring in to the county and cutting a
half-time employee position. But on July 8 the Budget Ad Hoc
Committee members Supervisors Jaime De La Cruz and Robert Rivas
approached Conte and said the staff had recommended an additional
$100,000 to be cut from the budget for a total of $182,000.
Supervisors create committee to look at long-term funding options
After several discussions across three days time, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors approved the San Benito County Free Library budget with a temporary due pass just after noon on July 21.
The delay came in part because Librarian Nora Conte had put together a budget that included $82,000 in cuts, largely from grant funding she was able to bring in to the county and cutting a half-time employee position. But on July 8 the Budget Ad Hoc Committee members Supervisors Jaime De La Cruz and Robert Rivas approached Conte and said the staff had recommended an additional $100,000 to be cut from the budget for a total of $182,000.
At the end of three days of budget hearings, in which the San Benito County Board of Supervisors gave a temporary due pass to each department unit, the board continued the budget to July 26 after the regularly scheduled supervisor’s meeting. At the July 26 meeting, they again continued the budget to July 28, after the Pinnacle’s press time.
At the conclusion of the July 21 afternoon session, the board members needed to decide how to fill a $3.93 million gap between projected revenues and expenditures for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
Some of that gap is due to the supervisors deciding against a $100,000 cut to the county library, as recommended by staff members.
Though supervisors eventually approved the library budget with only a $20,000 cut that the library will need to provide from a trust fund that has been set aside for future expansion, the supervisors were focused on how to address the long-term issue of how to fund the library.
“What we need is a long-term plan,” Rivas said. “To expect the library to be held hostage year to year is unfair.”
Rivas said that he would only approve the library’s budget without the additional $100,000 cut if there was a motion to move forward on a long-term plan. In the end the supervisors agreed to create an Ad Hoc committee on which Supervisors Marige Barrios and Rivas will serve.
“To go after a special district will take a lot of work,” Rivas said. “But I think it could pass.”
On the first day of budget hearings, July 18, Conte addressed the board with recommendations to increase revenue for the library. But they asked for more information on what the $100,000 cut would affect at the library so Conte was brought back to talk two days later.
“I originally started by returning $56,000 in funds to the county,” Conte said. “In order to return that, I will have to return $40,000 in grant funds for a good program. We worked hard to get it.”
For the rest of the balance, she said she would look into drawing $20,000 from a trust fund that is set aside for future library expansions.
She noted that she would have to cut additional staff, bringing the employees to 6.8 full-time equivalent staff members.
“That is close to what it was in 1999,” she said. “That was when we had a check-in, check-out library. The bookmobile was stopped in 2000 and the computer use was not what it is.”
Supervisor Jerry Muenzer said that over the hearings the supervisors had used 2000 staff levels as a benchmark.
“This would put (the library) below that level,” he said. “I just want to point that out.”
She said the library would likely be a five-day operation that would close at lunch, but more drastic hour reductions might be needed.
“Library cardholders have escalated,” she said. “This reduction will mean additional cuts in some types of services. The bookmobile will not be able to continue to go out to rural areas. Another area that will be affected is our ability to continue to look for revenue.”
Conte said with the staff cuts, it would be difficult to find the time to work on grant applications but that it would also be hard to implement the programs because there would not be staff available to run it. The $40,000 community development block grant that would need to be returned provides a program for first offenders, and is a partnership with other county agencies.
“You’ve done surveys,” Barrios said. “You’ve gotten responses. You’ve been proactive.”
Barrios noted that Conte has not just been relying on supervisors or the county administrative office to come up with new revenue sources. She also noted the community survey the library conducted last year to find out why people don’t use the library or what they would like to see at the library.
“What they would like to see had to do with space, materials, services and the parking issue,” Conte said. “The comments that came back we were not surprised…it reassured me that we were going in the right direction.”
Lanty Mason, who worked with the committee that put out the survey, spoke during the public comment period.
“Budget cuts have already closed many if not most school libraries, leaving our children with only one place to study and research – the county library,” Mason said. “The library has dedicated study computers and even study assistance available.”
He noted, too, that the library provides internet access free of charge to residents to work on resumes, search for jobs or send e-mail.
Barrios made a motion to do a temporary due pass on the $629,343 budget for the library, without the $100,000 cut.
“I’m willing to support it if Nora taps into the fund balance,” De La Cruz said. “What are you going to be offering from the trust fund? Nora, will you tap into it for the $20,000?”
Conte said that she was not sure if the trust fund could be used for regular budget items, but that she would be willing to look into it. Joe Paul Gonzalez, the county comptroller said that the trust fund is generally available at the discretion of the librarian for materials and supplies. Using the trust fund for those costs could offset other costs from the county’s general fund, he said.
“It’s hard,” said Supervisor Anthony Botelho. “Two years ago the county administrative officer and I had a conversation about cutting the library completely…my first inclination is that to go with additional cuts would be devastating. We are not worried about future expansion. We are always worried about needing to cut the fund from last year.”
He noted that the supervisors would need to look at pension, salaries and other issues in the overall budget.
Barrios eventually made a motion to approve the budget at $609,340, with the library to use $20,000 from its trust fund. The temporary due pass was approved by all five supervisors.
At the Thursday afternoon session, Rivas and De La Cruz noted that the actual recommendation from staff was to cut $450,000 from the library as it is a program that is discretionary, meaning the county is not mandated by state or federal law to provide the service.
“It was a recommendation of $450,000,” De La Cruz said. “I said, ‘No way. We can’t cut that much.'”
After the meetings last week, Conte said she studied and researched the possibility of charging a fee for library cards to residents, one of the options she offered up in the July 21 meeting. She said that when reviewing California state law she did not think it is permitted to charge a fee for the cards. She said she would like to see the Ad Hoc Committee research a possible special assessement district to fund the library in the future.
