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Libraries Might Get Per Capita Fund Hike

Posted on: Saturday, 14 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By Bob Schwarz, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

Jan. 14--Gov. Joe Manchin has budgeted an extra $500,000 for public libraries, which would raise the per capita grant to libraries from $4.06 to $4.34 per person served, executive director J.D. Waggoner told the commissioners when they met Friday at the Capitol Complex.

The per capita grants are parceled out to libraries according to how many people live in each library's service area. For libraries lacking a special funding law, a library levy, or a guaranteed slice of the local school board levy, the per capita grant provides the lion's share of the operating money. In 1995, the per capita grant stood at $3.50.

The rise in per capita is the good news, Waggoner told the commissioners. The bad news is that the governor's proposed budget takes that money by giving nothing to a special projects account that received $500,000 in Budget Digest money last year.

The Legislature last raised the per capital pool -- now at $7.3 million -- by $150,000 in 2003 and $100,000 in 1998.

In a related matter, commission staff has been working for two years on a rewrite of the rules governing, among other things, how much matching local money libraries must dig up if they're to qualify for their state per capita money.

The old rules, written in 1971 but never enforced, call for libraries to find two-thirds of their operating money locally.

Two years in the works and still in draft form, the new rules would require small libraries to raise $1 locally for every $1 the state gives. Half the local match would have to come from tax-collecting cities, school boards or counties.

Librarians acknowledge the need for new rules, but they are concerned how they will play out in a world where, cup in hand, many have to go begging annually to city, county and school board officials.

Myra Ziegler, director of the Summers County Public Library in Hinton, said she receives $10,000 from the school board, but got nothing from the county commission the last two years. The city of Hinton, which runs on a $98,000 budget, gave $3,500 last year.

Waggoner and his commissioners say they are looking for ways to help people like Ziegler pry more library money from local sources.

Some librarians have worked at the same library 25 years, earn minimum wage, and get neither health insurance nor pension benefits, Waggoner said. "They can't afford to retire. They're going to have to work until they die."

"For me to get more, someone has to take a cut," Ziegler said. If libraries could get $2 in state money from each $1 they get from city, county and school officials, they might have better leverage, she added.

Library directors want to spend their time running their libraries and not have to compete for funds in the rough and tumble of politics, Waggoner said. "That's impossible, especially for the little ones. The reality is most of their funding is political."

In another related matter, Waggoner spoke about a Kanawha County Circuit judge's ruling against the Kanawha County school board, which had sued the state school board.

Kanawha school board members have grown tired of giving $2 million a year to local libraries and believe the state school board should reimburse that money. Judge Charlie King disagreed.

Local governments give $19.5 million to local libraries, but 60 percent of that money goes to libraries that benefit from the 11 special funding laws. A special law gives the Kanawha County Public Library system, for instance, more than $5 million from city, county and school board.

Public schools benefit from good libraries, Commissioner Charles Julian said. It's not as if all that money given to libraries just disappears into thin air, he added. A well-funded library orders more books and stays open more hours.

To contact staff writer Bob Schwarz, use e-mail or call 348-1249.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

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Source: The Charleston Gazette

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