Funding neighborhood libraries planning crucial
LYNN MARINELLI Legislature Chairperson
The 2007 county budget allocated $22.2 million to library services. The amount is less than what the library system received 10 years ago. It had remained unchanged for three years.

The level of current neighborhood library branch funding is not sufficient to sustain downsized library hour operations or provide reasonable community based circulation services. The lack of adequate funding places the library system at risk because operating services barely meet state minimum library standards. The current situation is not acceptable to library users, staff or me.

In order to address the effects of cuts in library hours and circulation, the county administration and legislature must act to budget for a prioritized cost-effective funding restoration plan.

The first step in developing a reasonable plan is to gain consensus and support from elected officials that additional funding for community-based library services will be a 2008 budget building priority.

The second step in the planning process is to have the library board and staffs prepare a realistic neighborhood services restoration plan that covers a three-year timeline. The prioritized and itemized local libraries funding restoration plan would also address compliance with specific state library regulations.

There will be a necessity for extensive deliberations on a three-year local libraries' funding restoration plan, which has community support but does not raise false expectations.

We will work through the legislature's Community Enrichment Committee, chaired by Legislator Michele Iannello. Public input on the future of library resources will be an important part of community deliberations.

Erie County legislators helped the library take a big step in the right direction by restoring $500,000 to the library system's 2007 budget and making the local law known as the Library Protection Act permanent.

The countywide library tax supports free and equal access to any and every public library in Erie County by all county residents and taxpayers. Books and other resources of every library are available to all county residents regardless of where they reside and can be shipped to the library closest to them upon request. This tax also funds the Central Library, which houses a large portion of materials shipped throughout the county.

Furthermore, this funding supports library system services that leverage cost-saving economies of scale, obtaining better pricing on library material, technology, utility and supply purchases and eliminating duplication in a wide range of

library functions, such as network/technology support. District 11 residents can express their opinions by calling my neighborhood office at 832-0493 or by e-mail at Marinelli@erie.gov.