Library Task Force Wants More Loot
In what has become a veritable county government tradition, a task force that was created to find ways to save money needs more money.
This time around, it’s The Future of the Library Task Force, which was formed, ostensibly, to find ways that a system rocked by budget cuts this year could operate more efficiently and effectively. But task force officials say the process won’t be cheap and they’re already tapping the money well, to the tune of nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
The 17-member task force, chaired by former UNC Charlotte Chancellor Jim Woodard, had already received a $75,000 grant from the Foundation of the Carolina’s so-called Community Catalyst Fund. But that, apparently, wasn’t enough. This week, the library braintrust hit the fund up for another $75,000, which also, apparently, wasn’t enough money to find ways to save money.
On Tuesday night, the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners was asked to fork over up to $75,000, drawn from the county’s contingency reserve, to round off funding for the library task force’s money-saving venture. The request was made without the task force presenting even a general budget for how the money would be spent, much less specifics on why it was needed.
That was enough to give even the spend-happy Democrat majority of the board of commissioners pause, and the board unanimously voted to defer consideration of the request until its Nov. 3 meeting, when Woodard is scheduled to present a budget outline for the task force and explain its overarching mission.
The task force’s $225,000 treasure chest will be used to fund project management, to include process facilitation, communication and citizen involvement, according to County Manager Harry Jones. Project management was launched earlier this month on what Jones called a “handshake deal” with The Lee Institute, contingent on money becoming available to fund the task force process. Hence the absolute, dire need for taxpayers to step up with an additional $75,000.
The quarter-of-a-million-dollar task force is charged with finding ways for the library system to operate with a reduced budget, after cuts of nearly $11 million this year led to the closing of three branch libraries, reducing hours and days of operation at others, and trimming nearly half of the system’s 600-plus employee staff.
Given the financial trouble facing the library system, several commissioners questioned why the task force was requesting so much money to find ways to save money.
“I have difficulty understanding why it takes $225,000 to find a solution,” said Commissioner George Dunlap, a Democrat. “I’m listening for a sales pitch as to why these funds ought to be used for this project.”
Jones countered that the board has previously dipped into its contingency reserve to fund similar task force efforts, citing the infamous School Building Solutions Committee as an example. The county, he said, pitched in $185,000 for that effort. And look at how well it worked out, what with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools talking about closing schools.
Jones all but overtly opined that it was incumbent on commissioners to come off the hip for the Future of the Library Task Force.
“This effort was initiated by this board, to ask the library to convene a task force,” he said. “Since we asked them to do it, it would be an appropriate expenditure to support that particular initiative.”
Commissioner Dan Murrey, a Democrat, agreed.
“The $75,000 investment, in my mind, is seed money for potential savings that we can have going forward,” he said. “I’d be surprised if we don’t get more than $75,000 worth of value out of rethinking both what the community wants in terms of library services and how they might be consolidated with other county departments in terms of reducing costs. I think our return on investment will be pretty high.”
At which point it’s important to remember, again, what kind of return on investment taxpayers have already received from the high-salaried library chieftains, who had their salaries trimmed by between 10 and 20 percent as part of this year’s budget crunch. There was, of course, plenty to trim:
Library Director Charles Brown receives an annual base salary of about $170,974 and a total compensation package of $206,069; Director of Library Experiences David Singleton pulls down a base salary of $119,025 and a total compensation package of $146,890. Director of Community Engagement Karen Beach: base salary $82,296/total compensation $103,148; Director of Research, Innovation & Strategy Frank Blair: base salary $93,370/total compensation $121,759; Director of Organizational Research Brain Beavers: base pay $82,697/total compensation $102,025.
And now we have a library task force that needs nearly a quarter of a million dollars to find ways to save money.
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