Beggars Banquet
In another round of begging for crumbs when they’ve historically grown accustomed to cake, the library system has landed an additional $730,000 to help restock a budget that was slashed nearly in half for the upcoming fiscal year.
The newest loot comes from the small towns of Mecklenburg County, where officials agreed this week to pony up either cash or other contributions to help the libraries: Cornelius is kicking $175,000; Davidson is letting a $37,000 lease payment slide and vowing to find an additional $175,000 in future contributions; Matthews is pushing back $205,000 in rent payments on space the library uses in the huge facility that also houses Matthews Town Hall; Mint Hill is chipping in $175,000, while Huntersville is still trying to concoct some kind of in-kind contribution for its share.
The towns’ bailout efforts join the City of Charlotte, which is forking over $1.4 million. As part of the county’s recently approved budget, commissioners restored $3.5 million to the library system’s bottom line, with libraries sacking about $21 million.
The additional funding was critical, library officials have said, to prevent the shuttering of 16 branch locations. Those same officials contend that with the partially restored funding, they’ll be able to keep most branch locations open, but with reduced hours and services.
The county’s small towns and Charlotte typically don’t fund the library system with such copious amounts of cash – that responsibility falls largely on the county – and officials contend the largess is a one-shot deal. Don’t bet on it, unless library officials bring wholesale change to how the system operates. Much like county government as a whole, the library system has spent itself into its current crisis, burning through cash on cool gizmos, elaborate buildings and world-class wonderments that have turned most facilities into upscale, hi-tech coffee bars rather than simple places where you can check out a book or log onto a computer.
So, before you feel too sorry for the library system and its shaved budget of $21 million, take a look at just a few of big-ticket items that officials were either spending money on, or planning to do the same, as recently as two years ago. This from a 2008 Rhino Times article, courtesy of reporter Alan Hodge, who actually bothered to rummage through the library system’s capital plans and came up with some real gems:
Officials unveiled a proposed capital-spending spree that would have the Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) build four new facilities at a cost of nearly $46 million, along with renovating a slew of existing locations at a cost of about $54 million. Library officials are pitching an aggressive build-out schedule that would have construction for the majority of new libraries and renovations launched by 2011.
Proposed new libraries include Southwest Regional at a cost of $16.67 million; Ballantyne Branch at $13.97 million; Quail Hollow/Carmel Branch at $8.26 million; and Highland Creek Branch at $7.17 million.
Proposed renovations through 2010 include an $8.17 million facelift for Independence Regional; North County Regional at $6.35 million; West Boulevard Branch at $3.5 million; Plaza-Midwood Branch at $2.23 million; and Mint Hill at $3.1 million.
…
The $6.35 million overhaul for North County Regional includes what library officials are pitching as computer lab upgrades “for purposes of teaching students, adults and local immigrant population seeking work force enhancement and social assimilation,” while the $3.5 million West Boulevard branch renovation would create “popular display areas to enhance patron usage.”
The $3.1 million renovation for the Mint Hill library would include what library officials are calling an “internal reorganization of public spaces,” while the $8.1 million renovations for the Independence library would cover upgrades to “multi-media equipment allowing conferencing capabilities, especially in remote and at risk communities,” along with “better exterior signage to better identify” branch locations. The $2.23 million renovation for Plaza-Midwood would provide an “internal reorganization of public spaces to better serve area needs for electronic services, literacy and ESL [English As Second Language] programming.”
Kind of puts a different spin on Library Director Charles Brown’s cries of poverty. As with most things, it comes down to priorities and living within one’s means. Like most county officials, Brown and the Library Board of Trustees simply assumed the go-go boom times would last forever, planning and spending accordingly. The results: We were left holding the bag, with threats to close libraries en masse if it wasn’t replenished with more loot.
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