By Annie Goeller, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
Starting next month, the Greenwood library will close on Saturdays to save money.
The library also will reduce Friday hours, closing at 5 p.m. instead of 7.
The cuts are needed after the state has preliminarily set the city library's 2009 budget at 23 percent less than officials had asked for, library director Margaret Hamilton said. The budgets have not yet been approved but should be in the coming days.
That meant library administrators needed to cut about $366,000 from this year's spending, she said.
Earlier this year, the library laid off five part-time employees and one full-timer. They had anticipated additional cuts might be needed but expected them to be about $100,000.
State officials are expected to approve a 2009 budget of $1.2 million, compared with the $1.57 million amount officials had proposed.
Greenwood isn't alone. The Edinburgh library faces a 14.5 percent shortfall in funds. Johnson County Public Library Director Beverly Martin couldn't be reached Thursday.
Edinburgh's library director isn't sure how to make up for the money they likely won't be getting this year.
In Greenwood, library officials looked at other cutbacks, including eliminating color copying and printing, changing to a less expensive cleaning company and using recycled ink cartridges, but that wasn't enough.
They realized they had to trim hours, something officials had hoped to avoid when they realized they would face a shortfall in their budget this year, Hamilton said.
By eliminating one day from its schedule, the library's part-time workers will work fewer hours and, therefore, be paid less, she said.
"I believe this will cover it. I don't know what else we can do," she said.
Saturday was the best option for closing, she said.
On Sundays, local unemployed workers visit the library to fill out their weekly voucher for their state unemployment benefits. At times, as many as 15 to 20 people are lined up outside when the library opens at 1 p.m., she said. The library will remain open from 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.
On weekdays, especially when the school year starts, children spend time at the library after school until their parents get off work, Hamilton said.
Many of the library's visitors on Saturdays are college and high school students who are studying, she said.
"We had to pick a day, and this was the one that was left," Hamilton said.
Programs for adults, children and teens are planned to remain the same, but that will depend on when workers are available, she said.
If the same worker is supposed to teach a class and work the desk, that won't be possible and something will need to change, she said.
Officials are working on the schedule for library workers to determine how workers' hours will change, especially part-time employees who often worked on Saturdays. Hamilton fears she could lose some workers if their hours are cut, she said.
The reduced hours were especially frustrating since library officials just now are learning about their budget coming in less than they expected, halfway into the year, she said.
In past years, local governments found out what their budget would be much earlier. But the state approval has been delayed in recent years as the county struggles to meet deadlines in the property tax process because of a state requirement to update property market values each year.
"It's the lateness that's frustrating," she said.
The 2009 budget the state is expected to approve is similar to funding levels in 2001. The proposed 2009 budget also had asked for less money than the library received the year before, down from $1.6 million approved in 2008, Hamilton said.
But state officials had projected the library would get less funding this year due to property tax caps, which limit how much property taxes people pay and a $14 million drop in property values citywide. The library is funded mainly with property tax dollars from city residents, who are able to use it.
In addition, the library is collecting less on investments, fees and fines and in income taxes and excise taxes, since people are losing jobs, earning less money and buying fewer cars and boats in the current economic downturn.
She hopes the money woes are temporary, so the library can better focus on building up its catalog of books, references and other items, along with making sure its building is properly maintained, she said.
"This is a problem today, and I certainly hope in four to five years we don't have this problem still," she said.
Other library systems are facing the same problems.
In Edinburgh, the library that serves town residents is expecting to get more than $43,000 less than officials had predicted.
The state preliminarily set the library's budget at $256,316 for this year, down from $299,800 that had been requested.
Library director Cathy Hamm said she isn't sure what to eliminate.
"We're doing a wait-and-see. We're seeing how that's going to go," she said.
Layoffs could be possible, she said, but first she plans to consider spending less on furniture, equipment, software, office supplies and new books and magazines.