The simplest solution it seems would be to divide the $160,290 the county has allocated for the branch libraries by the number of branches, which is 8 and each branch would receive approximately $20,000 to do what they see fit with.
Simplest does not always equal best, so I would like to hear ideas on how we might go about attempting a change towards greater fairness in distribution of funding.
I’m listening here on line and in person every Thursday from 12-1 p.m. at the Rancho Calaveras Clubhouse and 2-3 p.m. at Snaps coffee shop in Copper Town Square.
We had our first community meet ups last week and I met several new people as well as some I had the opportunity to know from the campaign trail last year. I look forward to Thursdays in my schedule, to meet with people and get feedback about what’s new in our community.
Calaveras West Blog 
As a board member of the Valley Springs Friends of the Library for the last ten years, I think I have a little bit of insight to the budget of the libraries. You can’t just divide the amount of money into 8. Every library has different expenses. The job of the County Librarian is to make sure that each branch is getting equal service. If they are, who cares how the money breaks down – as long as there is enough money to go around.
The county library system has had to absorb two 17% cuts. That is the real issue. We had the budget for buying new books for the entire system drop from $40,000 down to $3000.
Fortunately, the Valley Springs Friends have been doing melodramas for the past dozen years raising money for our library. We were able to send some money to the county as well as buy books for our library. We bought computers, shelving, desks, chairs and lots of other stuff for our library. Meanwhile, the county system is hard pressed. We are fortunate in Valley Springs because we share expenses with the school system and so don’t need as much money as other branches.
The only inequity is the lack of money for the entire system. With the lack of money generally though, I don’t see any way around that for the foreseeable future. The county librarian is doing a great job juggling the costs and trying to keep each branch open with as many hours as possible. To give more money to Valley Springs would probably cause another branch to be closed.
Seems that the tax-payer population per district should be the main variable,…meaning dividing the whole pie based on the “Percentage” of payers per district.
Why does this seem so self-evident, but not the current way of distrubition of funds?
Areas with larger “wants”, than government funds could rely on “Friends of the Library” assistance, or other donatees,…BUT not the tax money!
Thanks for the ear, Darren,…..;-)