2/24/2004

County library system dependent on 1-mill levy to recover losses

Lindsay Gebhart
Daily Kent Stater

As the state of Ohio struggled to balance its budget last year, one option was to cut funding to state libraries.

Pam Hickson-Stevenson, the director of the Portage County District Library, said the state provides 95 percent of the district library’s funding and without it, they would be shut down.

“[Losing funding] was one of the scariest things,” Hickson-Stevenson said.

As a result, the district library system has a tax levy issue on the March 2 ballot to try to recover its losses.

Library budgets throughout the state have been cut over the past few years, and all of the Portage County facilities have been affected in a number of ways. Both Kent and Ravenna have passed library levies recently.

The countywide March 2 library levy will not be voted on by those in the Kent and Ravenna school districts. The 1-mill levy, which would raise about $2 million, will cover operating expenses at the six branches that make up the district library as well as the bookmobile for 5 years.

“We’ve had to cut material (purchases) by 30 percent, hours by 15 percent and staff by 16 percent,” Hickson-Stevenson said. “The cuts have been pretty much across the board. (With the levy) we will be able to reinstate everything we’ve had to cut.”

The operating money will also go toward replacing the bookmobiles, which are used in 12 communities and six schools in Portage County.

“The cost of the levy for a $100,000 home is $30 a year or 8 cents a day,” Hickson-Stevenson said. “It is a pretty good investment.”

The Kent Free Library, which celebrated its 100-year anniversary Sept. 26, had its budget cut by about $180,000 in 2003 and about $125,500 in 2002.

“We’re having to operate with minimal staff. We’ve been limping along with the same copiers. We hope we can just squeak by,” said Carmen Celigoj, the director of the Kent Free Library. “We have not laid off staff. As people resign we reassign work. I’m optimistic there will be a turnaround.”

Phyllis Cettomai, the director of the Reed Memorial Library in Ravenna, said they have not had to cut back on staff or hours, but they have had to curtail material purchases.

“We’re still being careful. We just can’t spend as much,” Cettomai said. “(But) we’re not feeling the crunch too much.”

All of the public libraries in the county have outgrown their facilities. The district library does not own the buildings they operate in; the money supplied through the levy will allow the district library to operate in a larger location. Both Kent and Ravenna are preparing to break ground for larger facilities.

“There’s been so many times when people are vying for a computer,” Celigoj said. “We have such a limited number of parking spaces (that) handling activities has been a real dilemma.”

Initial blueprints for the new Kent Free Library are available through the facility’s Web site, but the building is still in the design development phase.

“It changes every day. We don’t know whether to phase-build or move off-site,” Celigoj said. “Cost will be a deciding factor. We want to be the library the community wants us to be.”

Levy supporters are quick to point out the importance of public libraries.

“Libraries contribute to the community at many levels,” Hickson-Stevenson said. “Libraries contribute to the education process. They serve as a crossroads, a community center. It’s just a great place to feel connected to the community.”

E-mail: lgebhart@kent.edu