A budget battle between Sechelt and Halfmoon Bay has resulted in the Sechelt Public Library closing on Sundays, starting in May. For Lolli Mackenzie, public services supervisor at the library, the closure is disappointing.
"Our goal is to provide more service, and we're cutting back," she said.
Garry Foxall, president of the library board, said a tight budget has forced the board to cut staff by one full-time equivalent, by not replacing a part-time worker who left and by not filling a new part-time position as planned.
"This reduction is due to the failure of the library's major funding bodies, the District of Sechelt and the Sunshine Coast Regional District, to reach agreement on adequate funding," said Foxall in a press release April 20. "As a result of this underfunding, the Sechelt Public Library Association is considering options which range from reducing hours and services even further to turning the operation of the library over to the District of Sechelt."
Both Sechelt and Halfmoon Bay are contributing the same amount to the library's operating budget as in 2003: $194,500 from Sechelt and $62,000 from Halfmoon Bay. John Marian, regional director for Halfmoon Bay, said he was unwilling to pay approximately $10,000 more under a pre-agreed library funding formula because he did not have a detailed accounting of how that money would be spent. He said because Sechelt's municipal hall was "piggy-backed" onto the new library built in 1997, he needed to know "what were legitimate capital expenses attributable to the library."
Unable to get an answer to that question by the budget deadline, Marian decided to freeze his region's contribution to the library.
Sechelt Mayor Cam Reid said Sechelt taxpayers are already subsidizing the library users from Halfmoon Bay and Roberts Creek, and his council was unwilling to increase its contribution to the library.
"We just didn't feel it was fair to ask our taxpayers to pay more," said Reid. "They [the library board] appear to be caught in the middle."
Foxall said the library needed a budget increase this year in order to keep service levels at the status quo. "We're $20,000 short of what we need to run the library," Foxall said. "A library such as ours can only save in two places: staff and acquisitions [of books and other materials]. Already we are low on our acquisition amounts."
He said the library already runs a tight ship, with wages well below those paid at the Gibsons library and an enormous contribution from a cadre of 40 to 60 volunteers.
"We make more use of volunteers than any library our size in B.C.," said Foxall.
The library's total operating budget for 2004 is about $360,000. Another $135,000 goes to pay the debt for the new library building, constructed in 1997 after being approved by Sechelt taxpayers in a referendum.
Since moving into the new library, Foxall said, library users have increased 97 per cent, items available have increased 70 per cent, and items circulated have grown by 60 per cent. "It is the most used municipal facility in Sechelt and serves the widest range of patrons," said Foxall.
Foxall said the board is not willing to continue operating the library under this kind of budget constraint.
"To continue with the present financial arrangement will, in the opinion of the board, lead to a deterioration in the quality of the library," said Foxall. "We are unwilling to be responsible for that."
