[OPLINLIST] Reduction in PLF

Wed Jul 15 10:56:31 EDT 2009

I've been in libraries since 1981, not quite as long as my esteemed
colleague.  I was around in the days of the intangibles tax where we
charged someone from outside of the county for a card.  I left libraries
in the mid 80's and came back to find the LLGSF.  I was there for the
percentage drop, the July when we got no money, the freeze, I was Director
when the freeze was changed to the PLF, and am now trying run the library
in the present and figure out the future.

Understand one thing...libraries are political subdivisions and we are
funded by tax dollars.  If for one second you think you and libraries are
not political you are kidding yourself.  We are a "political football"
just like every other entity who is funded through state taxes.

During the past few weeks of this budget debate I have seen words like
DEVASTATING and TRAGIC.  Well, yes, the Governor's proposal and ultimately
the budget that was passed had a negative impact on funding. But remember,
the reduced funding for the first six months of 2009 was not the result of
anything the Governor or General Assembly did--it was the result of a
lagging economy that has impacted the lives of many Ohioans and Americans.
So, we were merely feeling the same effects that many of our neighbors
were feeling.  The next two years are going to be tough.  Looks like we
had better look for ways to recoup that revenue through levies and other
sources of revenue and take a hard look at what we do and how we spend
that revenue.

Perhaps we should take a lesson from General Motors.  They clearly are not
going to be able to behave like the GM of the past. Maybe the old model of
how we operate no longer works either.

We do good work.  So do our fellow public employees who serve us in our
parks, keep us safe on our highways, provide services to children and
seniors, the list goes on and on. We have no right to expect our funding
to go untouched while other worthy public services take the hit.   We
cannot just say "you can't cut library funding because we are the library
and we do x.y.z."   Our fellow public servants do work that is just as
relevant as our work and, yes I will say it, sometimes MORE important than
our work.

The Ohio Library Council and the Ohio library community did a fine job
lobbying on our behalf.  I say let's look for ways to make sure what we
just went through does not happen again.  Each time I saw where OLC staff
was going to have to read through those thousands of pages of budget
documents over the weekend just made me feel bad for them.  What a way to
spend a weekend!!

If you are interested, join me in looking for new ways of doing things.
Let's find solutions to these funding issues. Let's look at how we do
things.  I want all of you young librarians fresh out of library school to
offer solutions.  You just studied the latest and the greatest.  I know 
you have ideas on how to do things differently.  I want to hear them.

Personally I would like to get back to playing librarian.  Right now I
have about a dozen books to read for book talks in the fall (including the
book "Why is snot green?"!). I don't know about you, but that sounds like
a lot more fun to do than what I have been doing.

Mark

> I've been in the Ohio library biz since 1973 (yes, folks, 36 wonderful
tortured years!), and here's how it's gone:  In 1985, they took away our
intangibles tax and replaced it with the LLGSF, at 6.3% of state income
tax revenues.  Some of us worried that we would become a "political
football."  They told us not to worry--this would never happen because
they were enacting it into "permanent law."  A few years after that, Gov.
George Voinovich (apparently unwaware of that "permanent law" thing) froze
the LLGSF for 18 months, after which it miraculously shrank to 5.7%. 
Those were the good old days.  Then came 2002 and "the freeze that would
not die."  Which lasted until Gov. Ted Strickland replaced the LLGSF with
the PLF and a new formula.  No more freeze!  Just 2.22% of the entire
state tax revenue stream.  Yay!  And that turned out to be...wait for
it...wait for it...almost exactly what the freeze had been (I calculated
it at less than a half percent increase).  Please note, also, that from
2000 to 2007, the state's GRF grew by $11 billion, or about 36%, but we
got no share of that pie.  Now that the PLF is
dropping from 2.22% to 1.97% (but per cent of what?) I can hardly wait to
see what happens next.  How about you?  At least, thank God, we haven't
angered the legislators by demanding too much!
>
> So I think the lesson is this: What the Governor/Legislature take away,
they never give back.  Action plan?  I hear the acronym-ridden nursing
profession has a particularly poignant one that may apply to us: BOHICA
(bend over, here it comes again).
>
> Regards to all,
> John Chidester
>
>   _____
>
> From: oplinlist-bounces at oplin.org [mailto:oplinlist-bounces at oplin.org]
On Behalf Of Susan Pieper
> Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 10:57 AM
> To: oplinlist at oplin.org
> Subject: [OPLINLIST] Reduction in PLF
>
>
> Lynda Murray shared: "This bill reduces in temporary law the PLF
percentage from 2.22% to 1.97%. Of course, we are skeptical about the
"temporary" nature of this reduction." I tend to be extremely concerned
with the word "temporary". In my brief seventeen years involved with
Ohio's libraries... "temporary" has meant "permanent".
>
> I look forward to learning about a coordinated action plan for our
public libraries regarding this issue.
> *****************************
> Save Ohio Libraries!
> www.saveohiolibraries.com
> Susan Hill Pieper
> Director/Editor
> Paulding County Carnegie Library
> 205 S Main St
> Paulding, Ohio 45879
> 419-399-2032 voice 419-3999-2114 fax
> www.pauldingcountylibrary.org
> Rural Library Services Newsletter
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Mark Mabelitini, Director
Tipp City Public Library
11 E. Main St.
Tipp City, Ohio 45371
(937) 667-3826 (office)
(937) 667-7968 (fax)
www.tippcitylibrary.org