INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL NEW ERA: The funding formula for local libraries isn’t fair, a top city library official says.
The Lancaster Public Library on Duke Street and its branches in Leola and Mountville cover 40 percent of the county’s service area but receive only 29 percent of state allocations, city library board president Todd Smith said…
Further, Smith said, far too much money is spent at the system level, never making it to the county’s member libraries. For instance, Smith said, only 8 percent of the $2.1 million allocated by the county for library services goes to the libraries; the rest, he said, is spent at the system level… (more)
EDITOR: The article merits a careful reading.
As we have previously pointed out, either there should be a System that owns and operates the library or there should be libraries that simply contract for services with a much scaled back System. Right now we have the worst of both worlds with the ridiculousness of each library, tiny or gigantic, only having one vote in decision making.
When Lancaster Public Library (LPL) president Scott Todd told the System board that LPL is at a “breaking point”, this might foreshadow an LPL exit and the death knell of the bloated System. RIP.
Todd Smith is also a member of Lancaster City Council, chairman of the Finance Committee.