- April 25, 2024
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After years of making cuts, the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners has dedicated itself to putting more money into the library.
“If we’re going to make strides in having a good library — a great library — then let’s find the money we need to that happen,” said Nate McLaughlin, who chairs the commission, at a budget workshop meeting June 17.
The county is already planning to include repairs to the library’s leaking roof in its budget for capital projects for the upcoming fiscal year. A draft budget prepared by County Administrator Craig Coffey includes about a 3.5% increase in the library’s budget of just over $900,000 for next year.
The board hopes to use the upcoming fiscal year to increase the library’s budget for materials. The following year, it will look for ways to reinstate operating hours that were reduced during budget cuts over the last several years.
That increase reflects maintaining the library at its current level of service as well as funding increases including contributions to the Florida Retirement System, Coffey said, noting that in past years, the county has not kept up with inflation in its budgeting. The increase also funds $15,000 for additional library materials. The Flagler County Library Board of Trustees requested $30,000.
Library Director Holly Albanese said the $11,000 the library was allocated last year for materials was not sufficient for costs, especially because the shift to electronic books was costly.
“We didn’t have additional money in the budget (for electronic books), so I had to take money from here and there,” Albanese said. “Everything got cut.”
Albanese said she did not purchase any foreign language books last year and that the library is working to bring in more money to fund the materials it needs. Its passport program is generating revenue, and soon, the library plans to offer fingerprinting as well, which is estimated to bring about $9,000 to $14,000 to the library annually. The library could also be a notary and could marry people, Albanese said.
But the budget is still lacking, Albanese said.
“I think that we find these monies and make it so we have a strong service, something this community can be proud of,” McLaughlin said.
The rest of the commission agreed. After years of cuts to the library during the economic downturn, it is time to go in a new direction, commissioners said.
Commissioner George Hanns asked that county staff look into selling timber from county-owned land to generate funding, while Barbara Revels said she would rather see the county’s money spent on helping the library than on things like purchases of new trucks at similar cost.
“You can continue to repair that truck for one more year,” Revels said. “We’re talking about the services we provide to our community.”
County staff will consider ways to bring more money into the library’s budget and bring the matter up again at a future budget workshop.
