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By Lou Grieco, Staff Writer 10:46 PM Thursday, July 22, 2010

DAYTON — Just seven months after Montgomery County voters passed a replacement levy, Dayton Metro Library officials are looking at budget cuts. “It’s tight, but it’s not a disaster,” library spokesman Mark Willis said Thursday, July 22.

On Wednesday, Executive Director Tim Kambitsch unveiled a new budget. The board of trustees will vote on it this fall, but public feedback is being solicited at www.daytonmetrolibrary.org.

The budget will:

• Reduce hours at all branches on Wednesdays, the slowest day for libraries, by three hours.

• Reduce staff through attrition by 12 more positions by next July.

• Restore Sunday hours at the Main branch in downtown Dayton.

The 12 positions would be added to the 26 currently vacant position. The 38 full-time positions will represent a 12 percent staff reduction.

Rich Robinson, president of the Dayton Metro Library Staff Association, said union employees were saddened but understood the need for further cuts.

“We’re not too concerned as long as they hold to that path,” Robinson said. “As long as it happens with natural attrition.”

The hour cuts will still leave the library open 60 hours weekly, behind Cuyahoga County’s 65 hours, but ahead of Akron, Columbus, Toledo and Cleveland.

The library is still spending about 13 percent of the budget on new books and media, which is about average for urban libraries, Kambitsch said.

Library officials made $1.9 million in cuts in 2009, mostly through $1 million in the library materials budget. The library now has $1 million less annual revenue than it did in 2008, according to Kambitsch.

The library expects no funding increases through 2015. The wildcard is the next state budget, whose two-year cycle will start in July 2011.

“We are in a period of change and uncertainty for libraries,” Kambitsch said. “We have to make adjustments to continue providing the services our community wants while living within our means.”

Those services mean more than just books, and include Internet services, as a third of Montgomery County residents do not have home access to high-speed Internet access, Kambitsch said.

John Rudy, who was at the Kettering-Moraine branch, 3496 Far Hills Ave., agreed.

“A lot of people use it for the Internet,” Rudy said. “It’s a good source for people, even people that don’t have a job because they can come and use (the library’s) computers.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2057 or lgrieco@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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