Library: Potential Budget Cuts Will Be ‘Destabilizing’

With a proposed cut in state funding, a proposed cut in funding from Phoenixville Area School District and a grant running out, the Phoenixville Public Library faces difficult choices.

“We’re below bare bones,” said John Kelley, executive director.

In the past several years, the library has slashed 25 percent of its staff. The library routinely has 60 volunteers through its doors on a regular basis, which helps with the staffing, but most don’t have formal librarian training.

In the last few years, each of the library’s 10 major budgets—with the exception of utilities and the children’s programming budget—has gone down.

“We’ve been holding back on [cutting children’s programming],” Kelley said.

However, Kelley said approximately $20,000 will likely be shaved from that budget if the school district’s proposed cuts go through.

Phoenixville Area School District is facing a budget crisis of its own. Cuts from the proposed state budget total $2.3 million, and the school board has challenged administrators to get the budget down to a zero percent tax increase.

With all the “green light” cuts taken into account, the district still has $1.9 million to go to get to that goal. Including the proposed “green light” cuts and lost revenue, the district has already trimmed a total of $4.9 million from the 2011-2012 budget.

Some proposals include instituting pay to play, eliminating transportation, cutting the principal at the kindergarten center, cutting out the expansion of East Pikeland Elementary and more. Nothing is off the table, Josh Gould, board treasurer, said at a budget meeting recently, though some ideas in the above list have yet to be fleshed out or haven't been listed as "green light" cuts. Personnel cuts have also been proposed for the district.

At a March 31 budget meeting, the school board heard a plan to cut $20,333 year over year from the library’s budget. That amounts to a 4 percent cut—the percentage of cuts the school district will take if the governor’s proposed budget goes through.

The proposal, listed as a “green light” cut by district administrators, came as a surprise to Kelley. In its preliminary budget, the board had included an increase of 6.19 percent to the library.

Stan Johnson, executive director of operations with Phoenixville Area School District, said the proposed increase was included at the recommendation of the library board. Johnson said the administration went through the other budgets carefully before the preliminary budget was passed, but didn’t look too deeply at the library budget.

When the proposed state cuts came before the board, administrators took a closer look at every budget in the district.

The increase in the preliminary budget would have brought the total funding by the school district for 2011-2012 to $539,791. The proposed 4 percent cut will take the budget to $487,993.

Additionally, for 2010-2011, the library received a federal grant of $157,000. That grant expires on June 30.

“The federal grant for 10-11 that helped to fill the void for this year was a most welcomed financial addition to the budget,” Kelley wrote in an e-mail. “This federal grant was a once in a lifetime opportunity. It will not be obtainable again.”

Approximately 51 percent of the library’s funding comes from the school district, which owns the building. Kelley, who’s been with the library for 15 years, said he doesn’t recall a year like this.

“In all my years here, I don’t remember a decrease,” Kelley said.

In the library’s preliminary budget for 2011-2012, one full-time position was proposed for elimination. Four part-time staffers will be cut by attrition. Other budgets were cut, as well, and even with the 6.19 percent increase the district included in its preliminary budget, the library trimmed $125,000 from its budget. The library’s preliminary budget included the $31,474 increase in funding from the school district.

State funding isn’t looking like it will be promising, either. Though nothing is finalized, a 1.9 percent funding decrease is proposed for libraries throughout the state. The Phoenixville Public Library’s share of state cuts is determined by an algorithm and won’t be known until the fall.

“We still don’t know what the additional cuts are going to be for our individual library,” Kelley said.

As for private funding, the library’s development department rakes in 14 percent of the operating budget.

“While I would love to be able to say we could raise more in private funding, I’m skeptical,” said Susan Mostek, executive director of the library foundation and the director of development and marketing at Phoenixville Public Library.

Mostek and Kelley pointed out that patrons have already noticed changes as funding decreased from the state and county. The library is part of the Chester County Library System, a federated system.

The library instituted changes to cope with budget cuts on the state level. It’s no longer open Wednesday nights or Sundays, and fewer staff members mean longer lines for patrons. Fewer books are being ordered, too.

“Throughout the system, a lot of things are hard to come by,” Kelley said. “It’ll get worse with what we have in store for us in 2011-2012.”

Johnson said the administration has heard a mixed reaction from the public when it comes to the potential 4 percent cut for 2011-2012 for the library. Some have expressed concern that the cuts would cripple the library, and in particular the programs that help children develop before they hit the halls of area schools.

“The other side we’re hearing is why is the school district funding the library,” Johnson said.

Some newer residents aren’t familiar with the idea of a school district funding a public library, Johnson explained.

The proposed 4 percent cut, on top of the grant money running out, income dropping and a potential cut in state funding will have big effects on the library, according to Mostek.

“We fully understand that the school district has been a tremendous support in the past and we know that they’re in a difficult situation, but the proposed cuts are destabilizing to the library,” Mostek said.

As for the idea that’s been brought up at school district budget meetings of cutting ties completely with the library, Kelley confirmed that if that were the case, the library would close. It might have a ripple effect on the entire Chester County Library System, as well, because the Phoenixville Public Library is a big part of that.

“You can’t be a public library without public funding,” Mostek said.