Cuyahoga County Public Library System Planned Ahead for State Cuts

Libraries may have less to work with under the new state budget, but visitors to the Cuyahoga County Public Library system shouldn’t expect to see any cuts, officials say.

According to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, the Public Library Fund received about $368 million in fiscal year 2011. In fiscal year 2012, that fund is expected to receive $354 million and $345 million in fiscal year 2013. 

The methodology for libraries’ funding has changed in this budget, said Scott Morgan, operations director and fiscal officer for the Cuyahoga County Public Library system. The last biennium budget allocated a percentage—almost 2 percent—of the state’s general revenue to the Public Library Fund. 

This new budget bases the allocation on the amount of money the libraries received in fiscal year 2011, said Doug Evans, the executive director of the Ohio Library Council. The Public Library Fund will receive 95 percent of the money it did in fiscal year 2011 in both fiscal years 2012 and 2013. There’s more money allocated for 2012 because the first month of the fiscal year, being this July, was funded under the old formula, he said.

The fund will also pay for a few statewide library organizations, Morgan said, which will take up about 1.5 percent of the overall funding.

But for anyone who uses the Cuyahoga County Public Library system, the budget shouldn’t affect their visits and there are no plans to cut services, said assistant marketing director Robert Rua. 

That’s because the system “has been proactively planning for the future,” Rua said.

State funding for libraries has been decreasing for years, Rua said, and the Cuyahoga County Public Library began taking steps to operate within the revenues generated by its tax levy. In response to past decreases, jobs were cut and wages froze.  

And the Board of Trustees approved a new master facilities plan that, when fully implemented, will save the system money by relocating some branches to smaller locations and consolidating others. According to the library system’s website, the most expensive buildings will be replaced with facilities that cost less to operate and need fewer staff members to run. 

This facilities plan is part of the system’s long-term financial plan called “CARE: A Library for the Future.” The acronym stands for convenient, accountable, relevant and effective, the system’s goals for its services.