Gonvick LibraryLINK Site faces cuts without increased funding
Wed, 09/18/2019 - 10:54am
admin
By:
Karen Edelbach
During the Clearwater County Board of Commissioners meeting on September10, 2019 the subject of the Library Funding for the County was on the agenda, which includes the Bagley Branch and the Gonvick LINK site of Lake Agassiz Regional Library.
Liz Lynch of Lake Agassiz Regional Library (LARL) came from Moorhead discussed the $4,080 increase with the Commissioners in library services fees for the upcoming year.
While the County's preliminary budget contains enough to cover the increase, the Commissioners have to consider what will happen if they do not pay the increase.
"If we don't go with paying the increase, what happens?" asked Commissioner Mark Larson.
"LARL's Joint Powers rule is that you will have to make cuts dollar to dollar to personnel," Ms. Lynch said. "We apply a formula of 80-10-10 to cut the amount; 80 from where borrowers reside, 10 based on population, and 10 based on property values."
"The policy is to cut funding to a LINK site before a branch. The County Board would be able to have a conversation about that."
This means the automatic cut would be applied to the Gonvick LINK site, unless the Commissioners determine the County can accommodate the funding increase. With only 7 hours provided there per week, that would mean the cuts would come from their personnel and hours.
"I've visited with people using the LINK site and see the impact on the community," she emphasized. "We are required to survey participants of free programs offered. These programs are enhancing the people in these communities."
However, the Arts and Culture Heritage Fund, which provides for community programs, does not pay the operating costs of the Libraries. The 2020 budget increase funding requested is needed for the operating costs of the LARL system.
"We are facing the same situation with increased costs for health insurance," stated Commissioner Neal Illies. "I think we'll have to pass."
"We are asking for this increase because of the increase in operation costs," she stated.
"We have cut, cut, cut. There are only 10 on our staff, and we are down to the bare bones. We have been fighting for increases in funding from the Department of Education through the State of Minnesota over the years."
"I sure would not want to cut services in Gonvick," Commissioner Dean Newland stated. "But we have a cap on departments."
"Karen Edevold, Bagley Librarian, and Karen Stormo, at the Gonvick LINK site, do a fantastic job," Ms. Lynch said. "They are among the top performers in the entire region."
"The Bagley Public Library, open 32 hours per week, is one of the top performing branches of the 13 library sites in the LARL system. The Gonvick LINK site is out performing other significantly larger sites in program attendance and checkouts," she explained.
They now provide a laptop in their very small facility. They are only open 7 hours per week. Bagley checked out 17,000 physical items in August, over 2,000 more than last year. Five public use computers were used over 1600 times this year.
The Commissioners requested that she get information about the cost of personnel and the per capita costs, which she agreed to provide.
"I hope you will think about it," she commented. "This is about 'quality of life'. I would hate to see the Gonvick LINK site services cut."
Mark Titera is the County Commissioner who serves on the LARL Board.
"Clearwater County provides the funding for the Library. I am an employee of LARL, not the County. The agreement for funding has always been between the County and LARL during the 22 years I have been Librarian here," Bagley Librarian Karen Edevold said in a telephone conversation regarding the funding of the Library.
The City of Bagley owns the facility and pay for the maintenance and the upkeep; and the City of Gonvick pays for the maintenance and upkeep there.
If you value your Library services, contact your County Commissioners.