The ebb and flow of state funding is causing concerns for the leaders at the Wood County District Public Library.
At Monday’s board meeting, library Director Michael Penrod explained the state’s public library fund is not a line item but goes up and down with the economy.
Penrod said he was “deeply concerned” about the current trend of downward state contributions, which for years has been 1.7% of the state’s general revenue.
He said the library’s monthly payment has dropped $15,500 from $161,633 in 2023 to an average of $146,111 this year through October.
Stateside, the public library fund distributed $424 million in 2023 and $395 million for the first 10 months of 2024, he said.
Penrod said he also was concerned that the state’s Office of Budget and Management has released revenue estimates in September that showed an amount $1 billion lower than what was projected.
He has been around long enough to remember what happened after the 2007 recession.
“All I want is to not slide backward,” he said.
He said it took 12 years for the library’s payments to climb back up to where they were prior to 2007.
This year the library was supposed to receive $1.891 million. The most recent estimate from the state, received in July, showed the library receiving $1.885 million.
They had budgeted $1.835 million, Penrod said.
Distributions are not matching estimates and “this is a big concern for me because I want to be able to predict the numbers,” he said.
Next year’s payment has been estimated at $1,929,169 and “there is no way (that number) is going to come true,” he said.
“If you ask me for what number we can use for the budget, I have no idea,” he said, but “I think we’ll have to be conservate.”
Paperwork he provided showed the library next year was budgeting for $1.750 million from the state.
Trustee Brian Paskvan asked if that lower number would impact the library.
Penrod said when he is told the library will receive $1, he assumes they will get 93 cents and then he spend 88 cents. If the actual amount is received, the extra can be forwarded to the next year’s revenue.
“That very conservative point of view has served us well,” he said.
He said library guidelines say he was not to spend more than 65% on library personnel; 14% of the estimated tax revenue is spent on materials.
He said he recently shared his concern over the uncertainty with Sen. Theresa Gavarone.
“We need stability in the public library fund,” he said. “It’s starting to behave in the erratic way it was a decade ago.”
“We have seen this go up and down before and have weathered the storm. We will again,” said board President Ken Frisch.
He said the board was in a good financial position to do maintenance on the building, but that means that some of the reserves won’t be there if needed.
“We will get through this. It’s important we maintain our services in this community,” he said.
The library’s finance committee will meet in November to prepare a budget that will need to be approved in December.
