City of Lexington, KY, Wants To Dip into Library's Dedicated Funding

Library resists attempt, cites law, points to disproportionate impact

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 03/22/2010

• Library gets five cents out of $100 in property taxes
• Proposed $342,000 cut would be disproportionate
• Library has already made cuts

Over the years, library advocates have often advised that, to ensure a dedicated funding stream, libraries should form independent taxing districts, thus insulating them from the ebb and flow of municipal finance. 

Now, however, a library with just such a taxing district a similar dedicated funding stream, the Lexington Public Library, KY, finds itself resisting an unusual mayoral request to cut $342,000 to help the city balance its budget.

"When the city is responsible for public safety and all the other services the city provides," Urban County Councilman George Myers asserted to the Herald-Leader, "it doesn't make sense ... that the public library is of higher and better use than anything else the government does." The library gets five cents of every $100 in Fayette County property taxes.

Library response
However, in a letter (below) to council members, library board chairman Larry Smith said no, pointing to the law and noting that the cut would be disproportionate.

“As you know the Library is not funded by revenues from the Urban County Council’s general fund but receives its revenue from a dedicated property tax,” Smith wrote. “Simply put, the Mayor is asking for the 'return' of funds that were never provided by LFUCG [Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government]  through the general fund in the first place."

[He clarified in a letter to LJ: "State law establishes a minimum amount of property tax revenue (5 cents per $100 of assessed property) for the library, but unlike independent taxing districts we have no authority to increase the tax rate and independent taxing districts in Kentucky have more control over trustee appointments.  The Lexington Public Library funding is determined by state statute that sets a minimum of $.05 per $100 of property valuation, and that is the amount the Lexington Library receives."]

He added that the board considered the request and declined making the cut, noting that the library had already reduced its budget in this fiscal year by 5.4 per cent, while the city budget was being reduced by 4.5 per cent—and that the requested cut  “would constitute a 7.9 per cent reduction, significantly more than the reduction made in the city's general fund.”

Cuts and more cuts
Beyond that, if property tax revenue remains flat and costs continue to rise, the library faces a 3.3 percent cut next year.  Meanwhile, the library has cut hours across the board by two hours per week, left 14 staff positions unfilled, canceled some electronic databases, and reduced its materials budget by 10 percent, as well as delaying several capital projects.

Even so, the library has expanded services at the Gainesway Community Center and the Carnegie Literacy Center, Smith noted. “I believe we are already doing more than our part to help the Mayor and members of the Urban County Council weather the current downturn in the economy,” he wrote. “Asking LPL to write a check to the LFUCG general fund is asking everyone who depends on the Library to make additional and unreasonable sacrifices.”

The library is in the hot seat with some legislators because of controversial spending by then-executive director Kathleen Imhoff (to which she has forcefully responded), as well as legal, audit, and executive search costs not part of its original budget, noted the Herald-Leader.