HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 03-26-2009 - 5-1Town of Chapel Hill Official VVebsite -Comments of Mayor Foy to Orange County Board Page 1 of 2
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Comments of Mayor Foy to the Orange County Board of
Commissioners - ]une 3, 2008
06/03/08 -Chairman Jacobs and members of the Board of
Commissioners; Madam Manager; Mr. Attorney.
I appreciate your giving me an opportunity to speak before you this
evening.
I am here on behalf of the Chapel Hill Town Council.
Like you, we are in the midst of our budget considerations; and like you,
we find ourselves confronted with difficult choices in a year of increasing
health care costs, increasing energy costs, and other pressures.
But I want to speak with you tonight only tangentially about the budget.
My real focus this evening is on growth -the cost of growth as it relates
to one part of our community.
And in that regard, I want to speak with you about providing library
services in Orange County.
As you know, the Chapel Hill library, whose operations have long been
funded in part by a contribution from the Board of Commissioners, is
growing.
You know that the demand for libraries throughout Orange County is
growing - in fact Orange County is building a new library in Hillsborough
and considering building a new library in the southern part of the county.
The continuing growth in demand at the Chapel Hill library has prompted
the Town Council to begin construction this year on a $16 million
expansion, which will significantly increase the physical size of the library
and its ability to serve Orange County citizens.
The Chapel Hill library is one of the most heavily used in the state, and it
consistently gets high marks for quality of service.
But one thing I draw to your attention is this fact: the Chapel Hill library
currently serves a significant number of patrons who live in Orange
County but not in Chapel Hill. In fact, our data indicates that almost 40%
of the library's patrons are Orange County residents who live outside
Chapel Hill. These patrons borrowed almost 350,000 items last year.
The reason that I bring this up is because the county's contribution to
library operations (which is the contribution on behalf of these patrons) is
approximately 11%; this discrepancy between patron usage at 40% and
patron funding at 11% is not sustainable for the town. That's why we are
seeking an increase in county support.
I think this funding discrepancy is an anomaly, because 20 years ago, the
county's share of funding for the library was 20% of operating costs. That
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is why I am requesting that the county restore its contribution this year to
a level of 20% of the operating budget.
This would still leave a gap of almost 20% in the difference between
patron service and patron funding; but I believe that the county and the
town can come to some kind of equitable arrangement over the next year
or so that would address our long-term relationship regarding library
funding.
Funding library operations will be a key issue for the town, particularly as
the library's operating costs and predicted usage increase after the
expansion is complete, and there are some options available.
For example, the approximately 5% of patrons who are neither residents
of Chapel Hill nor of Orange County currently pay an annual fee for a
library card that entitles them to full usage.
If that fee were sufficient to offset the cost of service, its cost would
increase significantly.
However, if that high fee were applied to all residents outside of Chapel
Hill, including those in Orange County, we believe it could be a disservice
to the broader community that might in particular adversely affect school
children and their families.
But those are the kinds of matters that the county and the town could
discuss over the next year.
I realize you have many matters to consider, and you need to get on with
your meeting. But again, I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to
speak. I am confident that we can work together for the benefit of all
Orange County citizens, and I hope you will seriously consider my request
to restore the funding level for the library to 20% for this fiscal year, an
amount of $462,000.
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