Oconee County’s two libraries are facing financial problems, as projected revenue is not sufficient to sustain current levels of staffing and programming.
Athens Regional Library System Executive Director Valerie Bell says the libraries need to find new sources of revenue for the future.
The financial problems at the libraries came to light when the Oconee County Library Board of Trustees earlier this month adopted its Fiscal Year 2025 Budget.
In order to cover required increased contributions to the State Health Benefit Program and to the Teacher Retirement System for its seven full-time employees, the Board had to dip into its reserves. Current funding would not cover those costs.
The Board also voted to grant a 3 percent cost of living salary increase for all 19 employees to assist with retention and hiring. The employees last received a pay increase in 2022.
The costs of the health insurance and pension fund contributions and of the salary increase meant that the Board had to take $34,290 from its reserves to balance the Fiscal Year 2025 budget of $634,451.
Increased Spending
In her Director’s Report, Bell told the Library Board at is July 8 meeting that on June 24 she had been informed that the contribution for each library employee enrolled in the State Health Benefits Program will increase on Jan. 1 more than expected.
The benefit contribution at present is $1,093 per month, and Bell said she had budgeted for that amount to increase to $1,343 on Jan. 1. Bell said the amount will increase instead to $1,580.
“This is shocking to us because we were expecting, and we budgeted for the $1,343 increase, not $1,580,” Bell told the Oconee County Library Board. “The $1,580 we thought was going to be in January of (20)26. So they are really accelerating the time frame for it.”
“Unfortunately, they did that after most of the budgets were submitted,” she said.
Mark Campbell, Chair of the Oconee County Library Board, said the Board needed to add $21,579 to its Fiscal Year 2025 Budget to accommodate the health premium increase as well as an increase of nearly a percentage point in contributions to the Teacher Retirement System.
Campbell said the Board also should consider a 3 percent salary increase for the 19 employees at a cost of $12,711.
The $21,579 or the $34,290 would have to come from reserves to balance the Fiscal Year 2025 budget of $634,451, he said.
Funding Sources
Campbell, in presenting the two budget options, said “Based on the information we have received from our funding sources, we are not going to have enough funding to cover either option.”
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Bell 7/8/2024 |
Five counties, including Oconee, are part of the Athens Regional Library System, and budgets are by county. The Bogart Library and Oconee County Library in Wire Park are considered branches, but they are operate under the same county budget.
The budget Campbell provided to the Board shows Oconee County government providing $510,000 of the total revenue of $600,160, or 85.0 percent.
The Oconee County Board of Education contributes $31,000, Watkinsville contributes $25,851, and Bogart provides $7,000.
Other budgeted revenue comes from a state salary payroll supplement ($6,008), fines and fees ($15,000), and copy money ($5,300).
Oconee County’s contribution increased by $10,000 from Fiscal Year 2024, and Watkinsville contributed an additional $4,825, but the Board of Education and Bogart contributed the same amount in Fiscal Year 2025 as in Fiscal Year 2024.
Campbell said that he was hesitant to draw $21,579 to cover only the health and pension fund costs or $34,290 for those and the salary increase from the existing reserve, or Fund Balance.
That Fund Balance stands at $580,595, Campbell said, and it is large enough to handle the deficit spending and still provide a reserve of more than the recommended three months of spending.
Board Discussion
During the discussion that followed Campbell’s presentation of the two budgets–one without the salary increase and one with it included–two Board members voiced concern about deficit spending.
“As hesitant as I am to make this statement,” Rubielen Norris said, “it is not a good plan to take reserves” to balance a budget. “We have to find a way to increase our revenue in the future.”
“You know, you can always raise revenue,” Frederick Lutz said, “Use our reserves. Two other areas we don’t seem to talk about much is cut programs or get more efficient.”
“I don’t know how you do the last two,” Lutz said. “We haven’t talked about that since I’ve been on the Board. I mean, how can you make the numbers go down?”
Bell told Lutz that $580,396 of the $634,451 in spending in the budget is for salaries and benefits, or 91.5 percent.
“It’s all people,” Lutz said.
Spending is budgeted to increase by $3,040 for telecommunications and Internet, because the county was covering that at the old building but will not do so at Wire Park.
“We’re just trying to make the budget work,” Bell told Lutz. “There hasn’t been a shift in circulation. In fact, circulation is on the rise here in Oconee County. Also, staffing is needed. Additional staffing is needed at this particular location.”
The meeting took place at the new Oconee County Library in Wire Park.
Future Funding
Last year, the Board drew $1,297 from reserves to balance the budget, and Bell said “we are going to find ourselves in this position again next year because the coverage isn’t enough for the increases that we’re seeing with SHBP (State Health Benefits Program). “So we really do have to think carefully about this and what is going to be sustainable.”
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Campbell With Budget 7/8/2024 Surrounded by Lutz (Left), Moore, Craft |
Bell added that the Board needs “to try to think of ways to increase revenue.”
The Library Board has 12 members, eight of whom are appointed by the Oconee County Board of Commissioners. Two are appointed by the Oconee County Board of Education. Watkinsville and Bogart each appoint a member.
“Each of us is appointed by one of those funding entities,” Campbell said. “As appointees, I do see it as part of the Board responsibility to help make sure that the library does have adequate funding to be able to operate.”
Only seven members of the Board attended the meeting on July 8, and the vote was unanimous in favor of the budget option that included the 3 percent salary increase.
Lutz, Norris, Daphne Norton, and Rachel Watson, all appointed by the Board of Commissioners, were present, as were Laura Moore, representing Watkinsville, and Deann Craft from Bogart. Campbell, who did not vote, also is a Board of Commissioners appointee.
The Board of Education appointees to the Library Board were Mike Eddy and Matt Stephens, neither of whom attended the July 8 meeting.
Campbell said in an email on Friday (July 26), that “last week both resigned from the Library Board. The BoE will be responsible for naming their replacements.”
Funding Requests
According to Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell, the Library Board had asked the county to increase its funding by $34,860, or just less than 7 percent, but the county agreed only to the 2 percent increase, of $10,000.
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Full Board 7/8/2024 |
Bell said the Library Board had asked the Oconee County Board of Education to increase its funding. “We asked for $35,000 and received $31,000,” she said in an email message on July 25.
Watkinsville’s contribution of $25,851 represents an increase of $4,825, or a 22.9 percent increase.
Bell said she did not asked Bogart to increase its funding because the city contributes "gift money in the amount of $28,000 to help supplement their materials and programs” at the Bogart Library.
Bell said that Friends of the Oconee County Library also contributes “for materials and programming supplies.”
“That money does not go towards the operating budget because it varies/fluctuates from year-to-year,” she wrote in her email. “Some things they buy outright, so we don't have a definitive answer.”
“We can say that they have placed in the Oconee Gift Fund $21,022.50 last (2024) fiscal year. Again, they purchase some things outright.”
Bell said the Library Board needs to look at new sources of revenue.
In her email on July 25, however, she said “most of the libraries (in the state) are funded through County, City, and Boards of Education.”
Other Board Action
At the meeting on July 8, Toby Mayfield, Assistant Director for the Athens Regional Library System, told the Board she had completed the annual reviews for all branch managers and branch staff.
“I do want to take just a moment to brag on Donna and James,” she said, referring to Bogart Library Branch Manager Donna Butler and James Mitchell, Oconee County Library Branch Manager.
“They've received extremely good reviews this year,” she said, “They have done lots and lots of hard work over this past year. So we enjoyed getting to review all of that wonderful work that they do, and we let them know what a great job they're doing.”
Campbell said work continues on plans for adding public art to the Oconee County Library.
He also asked for and received permission to explore adding emergency power sources for the two libraries.
Bell said “we have to do some changes with the outside lighting (at the Oconee County Library). I don’t know what the cost is going to be.”
Bell said some money remains in the construction account that can be used for that lighting and for a moveable wall to divide the meeting room at the Bogart Library into two rooms.
Bell said in her email on July 25 that “We still have invoices we are clearing, so we don't have hard numbers (on the amounts available) until the close of the fiscal year which is October 31.”
The state contributed $3.3 million to the new Oconee County Library at Wire Park. Oconee County contributed $1.3 million, and the city of Watkinsville added $60,000. The library opened in March.
Video
The video below is of the entire July 8 meeting of the Library Board, held at the Oconee County Library in Wire Park in Watkinsville.
Much of the early part of the meeting was devoted to a review by Oconee County Branch Librarian Mitchell of planned future programming at the Bogart and Oconee County libraries.
Mayfield began her report at 28:06.
Bell began her report at 29:58.
Campbell began the discussion of the budget at 44:29 in the video.
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