Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith said during the budget commission meeting that Montgomery County’s drop in funding mirrored that of other counties in the state.
According to the Ohio Library Council, an organization that advocates for public libraries, roughly 51% of the total funding for Ohio’s public libraries comes from the state through the Public Library Fund.
In the state budget, the Public Library Fund gets 1.7% of the state’s general revenue fund. That general revenue fund receives more than two-thirds of its money from sales and income taxes — two revenue sources that were down during the pandemic, according to the Montgomery County Budget Commission.
The county’s budget commission determines how much library branches receive in this funding through a formula that gauges the library district’s population, the number of cardholders they have and the square-footage of their buildings.
Dayton Metro Library — which has 18 locations — saw a 1% decrease in its allocation of more than $20 million. The county’s largest library system makes up a little more than 80% of the county’s Public Library Fund.
But other library systems, like Washington Centerville Public Library, saw a decrease of nearly 8%, or $500,000, in its FY2024 allocation. Washington Centerville makes up the second largest allocation of the county’s Public Library Fund at 11%.
At Germantown Public Library, which has a 3% allocation of Public Library Funding, next year’s funding is down roughly $50,000.
Germantown Public Library director and fiscal officer Greg Van Bebber said that the Public Library Fund provides for more than 90% of the library’s budget, as it does not levy any property taxes in the community.
“Our library will not reduce any services or defer any maintenance in the upcoming year,” Van Bebber said. “However, if the decreases start to become a yearly trend, we will have to look at any structural deficit very seriously.”
Kristi Hale of Wright Memorial Public Library in Oakwood said the drop in library budgets is concerning, but libraries will continue to maintain services while reducing costs.
Oakwood voters pay a library levy that generates $474,307 annually for Wright Memorial Public Library. This money helps cover operational costs, and public library funding goes toward capital improvements.
Hale also pointed to the rising cost of materials over the past two years.
“We haven’t had a chance yet to fully work out the implications of the reduced funding,” she said. “However, I can tell you that any reduction is a cause for concern.”
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