Franklin library, 44 E. Fourth St.
Monday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Tuesday: Noon to 8 p.m.
Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Thursday: Noon to 8 p.m.
Friday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Springboro library, 125 Park Lane
Monday: Noon to 8 p.m.
Tuesday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday: Noon to 8 p.m.
Thursday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
FRANKLIN — Franklin-Springboro Public Library cut its operating hours and enacted staff pay cuts amid reduced revenues from the state general fund.
The biggest changes? The Franklin location is now closed Sundays, and both the Franklin and Springboro locations won’t open until 10 a.m. weekdays, versus 9 a.m., said Director Anita Carroll.
To maximize hours for patrons, the libraries tried to keep at least one location open until 8 p.m. and one open each morning, said Carroll.
It was decided to reduce hours at the regular library board meeting July 16.
“Actually cutting the hours isn’t what’s saving us money. It’s every full-time staff member taking a 20 percent cut in pay for the rest of the year,” Carroll said.
Franklin-Springboro Public Library has about 38 employees, 17 full-time, who are taking one unpaid furlough day a week.
Also, the budget to buy new materials will be cut, and there will be fewer storytimes for children in efforts to balance the budget, Carroll said.
The budget lost 20 percent of revenue since the beginning of the year and lost another 11 percent when the two-year state budget was signed, she said, which amounts to about $500,000.
Library income depends on state general revenue, which keeps decreasing, so the library doesn’t know its income month to month, said the director. And the state department of taxation projected revenue to be higher in the beginning of the year than what’s actually occurred.
“So the cuts have to be really severe to make sure at the end of the year we’re balanced,” Carroll said.
On the November ballot, Franklin-Springboro Public Library will seek a five-year, 1-mill levy that will generate a little more than $1.3 million each year. The Franklin Board of Education, the taxing authority for the library, voted July 27 to place the library tax issue on the Nov. 3 ballot.
In Warren County, both Lebanon Public Library and Mary L. Cook Library in Waynesville will file paperwork with the elections board to get a 1-mill levy on the November ballot.
In Butler County, Middletown Public Library, which has branches in Middletown, Trenton and West Chester Twp., recently announced plans to eliminate up to 21 full- and part-time positions.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2507 or clevingston@coxohio.com.
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