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Library director offers deep book-budget cuts as county seeks levy relief
Summary
Facing pressure to lower the levy, library staff accepted multiple line-item reductions and a proposed $20,000 book budget; the library's foundation later offered to help reduce the book budget to $5,000 and pursue fundraising, officials said.
Library staff told Lincoln County commissioners they would pare spending on books and other items to help lower the county's proposed mills. The director said branches are thinly staffed (four full-time positions and part-time staff in Eureka and Troy) and warned that deeper cuts could reduce services, but offered specific dollar reductions to help close the gap.
During the work session, the library director agreed to trim educational supplies (the book budget) from about $24,000 toward $20,000, reduce cleaning and maintenance funding, lower communications/transportation for interlibrary loans to $500, and cut subscriptions and some training. The county proposed absorbing cleaning costs through PILT (payments in lieu of taxes) and leaving $2,000 in the repairs line for minor facility needs.
The library director later said the library foundation and fundraising efforts could make deeper, temporary reductions possible: "we are willing to drop our book budget down to $5,000 as I have already spent out of that line item," the director said, offering the $5,000 figure as a one-cycle measure while grant or fundraising plans are pursued. Commissioners thanked staff and asked finance to enter the agreed changes into the county's Black Mountain system so the levy could be recalculated.
Library staff provided a line-by-line list of the cuts they could accept and said they would lean on volunteers and the foundation to preserve hours and services where possible. Officials said the itemized reductions produced roughly $36,365 in savings (transcript rounding varies) that they will apply immediately as staff rerun levy scenarios.
What happens next: Finance staff will record the library's agreed line-item changes, rerun the levy sheet and report the updated mill rate and revised deficit to the board.
