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County to meet on library services

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Staff

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

The Orange County Board of Commissioners will hold a work session tonight (Thursday) to discuss ways to improve and better coordinate library services.
The board is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in preparation for a joint meeting with municipal leaders at the Sept. 24 Assembly of Governments meeting.

Tight budgets at town and county levels led to increased scrutiny of library funding. During budget talks in the spring, Carrboro residents and town officials strongly opposed a county proposal to close the library at McDougle schools and shift staff to the new main branch library in Hillsborough.
The county’s funding for the Chapel Hill Public Library has long been a sore spot, with town officials claiming the county does not pay its full share.

To save money this year, the Chapel Hill Town Council put off expansion at the library — one of the busiest per capita in the state. Several council members have said they would consider a plan to charge non-residents to use the facility if the county continued its funding practices.

The board of commissioners ultimately rejected the plan to close the Carrboro branch at McDougle and a similar small facility in Cedar Grove and committed additional funds to the library budget to keep them open and cover the cost of opening the new Hillsborough branch. The board also voted to increase the per capita funding for the library to the state average of $22.44 in the fiscal 2011 budget. The budget for fiscal 2010, which began on July 1, raised the per capita funding from $15.60 to $19.80.

Commissioners also set aside $50,000 in the county’s capital plan as seed money for a future southwestern branch library.

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