Wasilla brainstorms for library funds

WASILLA -- Wasilla City Council members are putting their thinking caps on in order to figure out how to best fund the Wasilla Public Library without a reduction of services or quality to the patrons that frequent the building.

The city faces a reduction of more than $150,000 from last year from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough grant that helps fund the library; the reduction is attributed to the borough's funding formula "Rule of Four", which correlates the amount the cities of Palmer and Wasilla receive for the libraries with the amount of revenue sharing the borough receives from the state.

"It's a significant cut in the funding that we had before," said Ted Leonard, Wasilla's finance director. "The bottom line is that we cannot comprehend budgeting this type of cut, somehow we have to figure out a different way."

The Rule of Four is based on a three-year average of the amount of revenue sharing from the state. This year the state did not provide any revenue sharing to the borough, which reduced the total amount provided to the cities by nearly 50 percent. Bruce Urban, the Wasilla recreation and cultural services manager, said if the Rule of Four continues to be used in the funding formula, the amount the borough can fund the city could soon be zero.

"If the Rule of Four stays in place, within two years, the borough will not be providing any funding," Urban said. "I do not believe that revenue sharing should have a play in how libraries are funded."

Linda Bremmer, the borough's recreation and library services manager, agreed.

"We know we need to look at it -- we plan on getting together with the library directors from the cities of Wasilla and Palmer," Bremmer said. "The borough is not planning on discontinuing funding the cities."

But for the 2005 budget, the amount funded to Wasilla and Palmer uses the current formula. In order to combat this year's reduction, Leonard and Urban presented three funding options for the council's review:

Budget and request funding of $399,519 (a $20,000 increase) from the borough and increase Wasilla funding to $318,627 (a $20,000 increase) to fully fund the library's requested budget. This would increase funding 4.1 percent from fiscal year 2004.

Budget borough funding at the same as FY04 ($379,519) and increase city funding to $318,627. A total of $24,621 would be cut, which is a 3.3-percent reduction in funding requested.

Budget borough contribution at manager's recommendation of $229,443 and increase city funding to $348,627 ($50,000 increase). Cut $144,221, a 19.4-percent reduction of funds requested. Cuts in staff would result in the library closing on Mondays and a further reduction of four to six hours throughout the week.

The council will now have to decide what action to take in order to fund the library. Of the three options put forward, Leonard said he feels the first one will work best for library patrons. Other options on how to deal with the funding issue could be brought forward in upcoming weeks.

"Hopefully more heads put together can help us get wherever we need to be at," Leonard said.

Contact Jen Ransom at jen.ransom@frontiersman.com.