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County Votes To Withhold Library Funding From City, Looks To Terminate Agreement
October 19, 2012
Escambia County has approved a plan to ensure that the West Florida Library branches in the county — including Century and Molino — are open the same number of hours as those in the city of Pensacola. And the county is moving forward with terminating their involvement with the City of Pensacola in the library system.
Escambia County provides about 70 percent of the funding for the library system, while the Pensacola acts as library administrator. With the passage of a fiscal year 2012-2013 budget, Escambia County cut their library contribution by 5-percent or $165,000 from the previous year.
The West Florida Library responded by cutting operational hours by one-third, reducing part-time employees by 30 percent, subscriptions by 15 percent and book purchases by 85 percent. The new Molino Branch, set to open this fall, will be staffed by personnel from the Century Library, while the Century Library will see hours cut by 40 percent. The library system now hopes to stock the shelves at the Molino Branch with duplicates from within the system and donated items.
Thursday night, the Escambia County Commission approved a $3,152,425 to the City of Pensacola for the county’s share of funding the joint library system. The approval also stipulated that the county administrator can reduce the purchase order by the amount needed to provide staffing to all the branches in the unincorporated areas of Escambia County at the same level as the branch in Pensacola with the greatest operating hours.
The commission also voted to have the county attorney find a way to get the county out of the interlocal library agreement the city of Pensacola
“I think this current interlocal agreement needs to be terminated, and we need to evaluate what happens,” Robinson said.
“I could not agree more,” Commissioner Gene Valentino said. “I’d like a whole new structure for the library system, and I think this starts the gears in motion.”
The county attorney’s recommendation to end the library agreement with Pensacola is due to presented to the commission on November 15.
Comments
7 Responses to “County Votes To Withhold Library Funding From City, Looks To Terminate Agreement”
Looks like the folks are more interested in their little kingdoms and control rather than the people. Lots of talk about the importance of early education, and continued education, and undereducated but no one is serious about the library. Seems that books are under assault by not only the electronic tablets, but seriously self important politicians. Escambia County is supposed to receive a windfall from the BP settlement. Perhaps we need to support the library until we can designate a fund for the library system. Our young kids, teens, adults, and elderly all realize benefits from a well funded and well run library system. Lets stop with the finger pointing and posturing and do the job that needs to be done. Has the candidate for whom you are about to vote supported a fix for the library system?
All I want is for someone to make a decision and get on with business. If the county takes over fine, there will be a growing process but that would be normal. In the end the library would be fine as long as competent (management and library experience) people were in charge. I think the key word is competent, not all library people make good managers and not all managers understand how a organization really works. I am not even sure about how much power a Library Board should have. From what I hear anyone could apply to be on the Board (hands on experience regarding knowledge of working or using libraries not required).Of course it all comes down to common sense and we know by experience that all are not equal in that department. We all have our flaws and we all make mistakes, but if you make a mistake fix it and move on. I have been told that not one county commissioner has a library card, very interesting, so they only go into the buildings to woo voters or for ribbon cuttings. If they used the facility hopefully they would understand a little more. Of course that goes for city government also. Does the city mayor have a library card???
@City Resident,
Stinks to be you with double taxation. Move to county and help us fight being joined with the city.
City resident pay county property taxes just like county residents do. So if the truth be known city tax payers are paying for the library twice, paying with city taxes and county taxes.
Therefore the county withholding library money is my money as well.
A split system would be a new lesson in duplication of services and inefficiency. In other words, it would be a new way to waste taxpayer dollars. In order to provide the best library services possible to the citizens of Escambia County, the system must be kept intact. Do NOT split the library system.
The current arrangement between the City and County, as we know, has not been working for years. Every year, for the past 5 years (except for one year, maybe?) the library’s budget has been cut. Interestingly, always by the County, never by the City. Yet the County is usually the first to cry “foul” about the agreed upon situation. The City has done their own brand of damage to the library in recent years. The City, specifically the Mayors office, has eliminated needed professional Librarian positions from the Library’s budget for the sake of getting headlines in the newspaper about budget cuts. The Library was hit harder than any other department in the Mayor’s quest for that headline.
We, the Citizens of Escambia County, deserve a Library system that is funded and staffed at a level capable of providing the services we want and need. To get there, something is going to have to change. This repetitive bickering between the County and City is holding the system back, and robbing the taxpayers of the level of service they should be receiving.
Fund the MSTU for Libraries, and relieve the City and County of their current library obligations.
It doesn’t matter much which entity runs it, but the County might need to take it over, just to appease the juvenile grudges maintained by some of our Commissioners.
I am a resident of the city of Pensacola. What a lot of people seem to forget that we pay the same county property taxes as county residents. In addition to that we pay city property taxes. Therefore we are paying for the library twice.
I would say that 100% of library usage is by county residents.
Yes! We do not need to have Pensacola deciding our future needs when we are providing the funding. That has been going on too long. Time to separate from Pensacola…let them fund themselves!