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March 17, 2010

Dear ,

Mayor Jim Newberry recently requested that the Lexington Public Library contribute$342,000 of library funds to the general fund of the Urban County Government. For anumber of reasons I will outline in this letter, the Board of Directors respectfullydeclined the Mayors request.

The process for funding libraries was established by state law in 1944 after years ofneglect by local governments. As you know the Library is not funded by revenues

from the Urban County Councils general fund but receives its revenue from adedicated property tax. Simply put, the Mayor is asking for the return of funds thatwere never provided by LFUCG through the general fund in the first place.

What Mayor Newberry is asking for is not a return of funds provided by the

Urban County Government, but a contribution to the LFUCG general fund from

the funds dedicated to libraries through the property tax.

Nevertheless, the Library Board considered the Mayors request and declined afterconsidering the following facts:

The Lexington Public Library has already reduced its budget in this fiscal

year by 5.4 per cent ($746,000). In his State of the Merged GovernmentAddress, the Mayor indicated that the city budget was being reduced by $12.5million, about a 4.5 per cent reduction in the general fund.

Added to the 5.4 per cent reduction we have already made, approving theMayors request to contribute $ 342,000 to the Urban County

Government's general fund would constitute a 7.9 per cent reduction,significantly more than the reduction made in the city's general fund.

Anticipating that revenues from property taxes will remain flat and costs willcontinue to rise, we know that in order to balance the Library budget nextyear, expenditures may have to be cut by another 3.3 per cent, an

additional $462,000.

If the 2010-2011 reductions are made, the Library will have cut its budget

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8.7 per cent (over $1.2 million) in the 2009-2010/2010-2011 budget cycleeven without making the requested contribution to the City's general fund.

A contribution of $342,000 to the LFUCG general fund would bring totalcuts to an estimated $1,550,000 in fiscal 2009-2010 and 2010-2011.

The Library's budget is governed by state law which authorizes the use ofdesignated funds from property taxes. As such, the Library Board does not

have the statutory authority to contribute revenue to the LFUCG generalfund.

In order to achieve this year's budget cut, the Lexington Public library has reduced bytwo hours per week the amount of time Lexington's libraries are open. We haveleft 14 staff positions unfilled, canceled some electronic databases, and reducedour materials budget by 10 percent, in addition to putting off several capitalprojects. These cuts mean there are fewer people to help customers find theinformation they need, fewer new books, and a decline in the number of onlineresearch tools the library is offering

If additional cuts have to made next year, LPL anticipates the possibility of having to

take more drastic measures. These could include a further reduction in service hours,further staff reductions, and further cuts to materials.

These cuts come at a time when the Lexington Public Library has become moreessential, and busier than ever, due in part to difficult economic times. Simply put, forevery $1 invested in the Library, the community gets back more than $4 in services.

Despite cutting our budget by 5.4 per cent, we have worked hard to maintain andexpand services. For example, at the request of the Urban County Governmentlast year, LPL agreed to staff and provide programming at the Gainesway

Community Center. Prior to LPLs commitment, the Community Center was aseldom-used facility with only a security officer on staff. Since the Library accepted

responsibility for the Center, we have offered more than 40 programs to more than450 low income families and at-risk youth and delivered more than 1,400 books to theCenter.

LPL also assists the Carnegie Literacy Center by providing financial support,

$55,000 in this fiscal year alone. LPL partners with the Fayette County PublicSchools, the Parks and Recreation Department and many other city governmentagencies. The Library is currently working with the Police Department to provide

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support for a broadband networking project that will improve the Department's abilityto communicate via the Internet throughout the city.

The Library Board recognizes the task LFUCG has before it and I believe we arealready doing more than our part to help the Mayor and members of the Urban CountyCouncil weather the current downturn in the economy. We are adjusting our budgetto address economic realities and making painful but necessary sacrifices to

continue to provide outstanding service to the community even with less money

available.

Asking LPL to write a check to the LFUCG general fund is asking everyone whodepends on the Library to make additional and unreasonable sacrifices.

Respectfully,

Lawrence T. SmithChairmanBoard of Trustees

cc: Mayor Jim Newberry