Tift library cuts hours, citing longstanding financial issues

Published 10:00 am Friday, July 13, 2018

By Eve Copeland

eve.copeland@gaflnews.com

TIFTON — The Tifton-Tift County Public Library announced on June 11 that the library will be reducing operating hours due to “longstanding financial difficulties.”

The new hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Library Director Vickie Horst said that the financial difficulties that led to the reduction in hours has been a long-standing one.

“The most important thing people need to understand is how the library is funded,” she said.

Horst said that the library building has two funders, the City of Tifton and Tift County.

The school district provides funds only for the Big Green Reading Machine, Horst said, not to pay the power bill.

The Library Foundation raises money, but that money is not used for keeping the doors open either.

“That money is for what I call ‘gravy projects,’” Horst said. “It’s the special things we do that there is not money for any other way. The role of the foundation is to do the extra stuff. The basic keeping the building open should be the county and the city.”

She said the foundation money pays for the downloadable book program and underwrites the children’s summer programming, which the library is not allowed to use state funds for.

“We cannot use any state or government money for parties, prizes, snacks, anything like that,” she said. “And you can’t really do children’s programming without ice cream.”

Funds from the city and county pay for everything else, said Horst.

“It’s the power, the lights, the cleaning, the staff, acquisitions, everything,” she said. “We have been underfunded for the entire time we’ve been in this building, which is since 2009. But there was money left over from the renovation because we were careful and it was during the recession so we got a better deal. So there was a puddle of money left over. I have been using that puddle of money to balance the budget for the past 10 years. I have told people in the city and the county for 10 years that that money will not last forever.”

Horst said she made up a budget for this year that pulled about $90,000 from the remaining fund, which would leave enough money for one more year.

“My board said we can’t do that, so we have to reduce the amount being pulled out of the fund balance,” she said. “So what are you going to reduce? You are going to reduce your personnel and you’re going to reduce the things you’re going to buy.”

Horst said that the state gave them more money this year for buying books, so she cut acquisitions from the budget, but that only left personnel to be cut, which led to the reduction in hours.

“We’ve cut the eight least-busy hours of the week,” she said.

That doesn’t mean that the library is not being used during those times. Horst said that there are regular patrons that come during those times, and the reduction is affecting them.

“We didn’t wake up one morning and say, ‘Oh, the well’s dry,’” Horst said. “We’ve been saying this for years.”

Horst said that there are a number of people who are sad about the reduction and there are people who want to help by holding bake sales or other fundraisers.

She wants to urge people to ask their elected officials about the library.

“Ask your elected officials if they use the library,” Horst said. “Are they interested in or care about library services? Make sure you understand their position on funding services like this.”

Horst referenced the budget cuts made by the Macon-Bibb County Board of Commissioners on June 28 which proposed cuts to 21 outside agencies, including the Middle Georgia Regional Library System, according to a newsletter from the Office of Public Affairs. The newsletter said this funding was cut in order to not raise the millage rate.

The board has since changed the budget to continue funding some agencies, particularly the buses and libraries, and will continue budget talks, according to a story by The Macon Telegraph.

“Macon lost a lot of stuff,” Horst said. “There’s just not enough money. Sometimes you just have to pay for things.”

Horst said that the library benefits the community as a whole in ways beyond just being a place to check out books.

“We are the only place in town where people can come and use a computer for free,” she said. “If you need to apply for a job or write a resume and need to print something out, we have the connected computers for that. We have free wi-fi. We have a lot of services whereby we sit and work with people to teach them how to do the things they need to do. We provide resources for genealogists. We have ways to get continuing education credits for jobs online for free.”

Horst said that there are many other services the library provides that cutting the hours limits access to.

“There are people who are standing here when we open the doors in the morning and we’re kicking them out at night,” she said. “They’re not wealthy people. People are coming in here and basically throwing themselves on our mercy. If you go to the courthouse and you want to get a divorce, they’ll send you here because they know we have the computers and we’ll sit with those people and point them in the right direction so they can make the decisions they need to make. If you go to the Social Security office and tell them your identity has been stolen, they’ll send you over here because, again, they know we have the computers, we can sit you down and take you to the Social Security website and show you the forms you need to fill out. If you don’t know how to attach a photograph to an email, we can help you with that. We do a lot of impromptu job counseling. We’ll look at cover letters and go through them if we have time. These are our patrons. We’re cutting access for these people.”

Horst said that if things stay the way they are now, the fund balance will be gone and the library will start seeing $40,000 to $50,000 shortfalls each year, which she doesn’t believe she is allowed to run.

“We will then have to make some hard decisions,” she said.

Follow Eve Copeland on Twitter @EveCopelandTTG.