Lawmakers propose eliminating state funding for libraries

Florida lawmakers are proposing to eliminate all state funding for libraries, at a time when public demand for library services is surging.

Across Florida, public libraries are receiving $21.3 million from the state this year, reflecting cuts of more than 30 percent since 2001. Earlier this week, budget chairmen in the House and Senate proposed to cut the funding entirely.

In Hillsborough County alone, that would mean losing $910,388. The cuts would take effect for the next fiscal year that starts July 1.

The impact of the cuts -- if they take effect -- will vary across the state. In Hillsborough, the cut represents only about 2 percent of the total library system budget, which relies mostly on tax dollars derived through the local taxing district for libraries.

But Joe Stines, who has headed the county library system for 18 years, said the cut will nonetheless "hurt very bad" because the 26-library system has relied on the state grant each year to boost its shrinking budget for books and other lending materials.

In the smallest and most rural counties, libraries depend on that state aid to pay staff and keep the lights on. According to the Department of State, which oversees the state's libraries, 12 Florida counties rely on annual state grants to cover anywhere from 40 percent to 80 percent of their budgets.

Michael Pate, assistant director of libraries in Highlands County, said the state grant comprises more than 30 percent of the annual budget for the local three-library system.

Highlands, which was awarded $252,380 in state aid this year, also belongs to the five-county Heartland Library Cooperative, which relies wholly on state funding. The cooperative is using $450,000 in state aid this year to provide vital services to its member libraries.

"That's our circulation system, our networking, our Internet -- it's everything, even our courier system, all funded through the state," Pate said. "Without that, we honestly don't know how we'd operate next year. I don't know how we'd replace that money."

In Hillsborough, the annual state grant adds more than $500,000 to the county's budget for new books, DVDs and other public materials spread across 26 libraries and bookmobile. The remainder of Hillsborough's state grant defrays other costs like subscriptions, and provides about $60,000 collectively to Plant City and Temple Terrace libraries.

This year's cuts compound reductions in prior years. For example, Hillsborough's current $5 million book budget for all of its libraries reflects a decrease of $750,000 from the prior year because of a drop in property tax receipts. A $100,000 cut to Hillsborough's state grant for this fiscal year shrank the book budget even further.

The county system has already cut hours of operation and reduced staff by 15 percent since 2006, Stines said. Yet "we have more people using the libraries this minute than we have in our history. ."

The down economy is largely the reason, he said. "People go to the library instead of buying books, or they come because they can't afford to upgrade or buy computers or software."

Pate agreed, saying that increasingly, users are applying for jobs and food stamps on library computers. Traffic through Highlands' libraries is increasing every month, he said.

That's typical, said Jennifer Krell Davis, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who recommended against the cut. "This is the no.1 source now where people are going to get government services. People who can't afford Internet access; where do they go? The library."

Mike Fasano, chairman of the Senate budget committee proposing the reduction, said he hopes that at least some funding will materialize before the Legislature completes its budget deliberations this spring.

But with the state facing as much as a $3.2 billion shortfall, he explained the choice he faced in his committee, which oversees spending on transportation and economic development. For the most part, cuts have to come out of programs that rely on annual tax receipts, and the majority of programs in his part of the budget rely on other funding sources.

Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said the library cut was proposed largely to spare a state program that provides childcare for young children to low-income working parents.

"My goal as chairman was to make sure that not one child is taken out of the early learning program," he said.

Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, who chairs the corresponding budget committee in the House, proposed the same cut to libraries

Faye Roberts, executive director of the Florida Library Association, said she sympathizes with the legislators "I know they have really tough jobs when the state faces a shortfall like it does. We know the state is trying to provide the most benefit to the most people."

But Roberts also warned that state if the state cuts further, it may not qualify for annual federal funding of about $9 million. The federal dollars cover a variety of statewide programs, including an electronic library system estimated to save public K-12 schools and universities $112 million a year.

Fasano stressed that the budget-cutting process has just started. "I hope things will change," he said. "It's too early too panic."

Eliminating funding

Here is a breakdown of the state money that came to Bay-areas libraries are receiving this fiscal year; the proposed cuts would take effect July 1:

&bull ; Hernando County $628,118

&bull ; Highlands County $252,380

&bull ; Hillsborough County $910,388

&bull ; Manatee County $159,159

&bull ; Pasco County $176,212

&bull ; Pinellas County $699,992

&bull ; Polk County $230,909

&bull ; Sarasota County $259,384

Source: Florida Department of State; Florida Library Association