Richmond Hill library board addresses impact of budget constraints

'Any time when a significant amount is involved, it’s almost always going to affect personnel'

Yorkregion.com
March 12, 2019
Sheila Wang

The Richmond Hill Public Library Board has some heavy-lifting to do at the beginning of the new term.

The newly-appointed library board members are scheduled to meet for the first time on Mar. 28 and discuss the impact of a 2.4 per cent operating budget increase for the library board services in 2019.

“Personally, I’m disappointed in the budget allocation that the town has provided,” said David Bishop, chair of the library board. “Right now, our staff is trying to make recommendations to board members on where we’re gonna cut, because there isn’t enough funding to carry on with the existing services.”

Councillors finalized a $217,100 operating budget increase -- 2.4 per cent up from 2018 -- for the library board on the special council meeting on Feb. 26, as yorkregion.com reported.

Council came to the decision after rounds of deliberation as the board originally recommended a $533,800 increase, representing a 5.9 per cent hike to maintain the existing level of services and meet the growing demand.

“It is frustrating and very discouraging,” Bishop said. “I acknowledge that council has a difficult job to deal with when it comes to making those calls. But it seems to me there was arbitrariness to this.”

Regional Councillor Carmine Perrelli who supported the 2.4 per cent increase at the second budget meeting on Feb. 19, pointing out this budget increase was above the inflationary pressures, as yorkregion.com reported.

“I still don’t get it,” Bishop said. “How do we open a library that is three times the size of the one that is there now and think that somehow the cost of living adjustment is going to cover that off?”

Yorkregion.com reported last November that the construction of the new Oak Ridges Library -- a 19,000-square-foot facility -- has come to a halt due to contractual issues.

The $11,863,000 project on the corner of Yonge Street and Regatta Avenue is mostly complete, but an official opening date hasn’t been set yet.

The new branch is expected to offer expanded collection and new programs such as a maker space that is going to have workshops, iMac Creation Station computers, a laser cutter and a 3-D printer.

To deliver the expected level of services, the new library would need staff support, Bishop said, but the funding allocation has no recognition of the new branch.

If the library were completed last year, the board chair noted, the 2018 budget would have already reflected the additional staffing and services required at the new branch. Then a 2.4 per cent budget increase on top of that might have been reasonable.

The reality is that council adopted a percentage increase based on the cost of the existing services without factoring in the new Oak Ridges library, Bishop said.

“We’ve had five years work behind this,” he added, noting the community is four times the size the existing branch was built to serve.

The need for public library services has gone up significantly in recent years as the population in Richmond Hill continues to grow.

As of 2018, more than 72,000 people have registered for a library card in Richmond Hill as of last year, increased by 9,000 people from 2014.

Meanwhile, the number of virtual visits has gone up for five consecutive years as the way people use library services has shifted from physically to digitally.

Online users visited the Richmond Hill libraries more than 2.2 million times last year, a 39 per cent rise from 2014.

There has been a slight dip in the number of in-person visits in the last couple of years, which the board chair said could be a result of the availability of digital resources enabling people to use the services without having to physically go to the library.

The library services and programs come with a cost -- an increasing cost -- as Richmond Hill libraries move forward in accordance with the strategic plan, adopted in 2013, Bishop said.

“Nobody expected that we’d have the (funding) result we had,” Bishop said. “Any time when a significant amount is involved, it’s almost always gonna affect personnel.”

Most of the cost of the library services is fixed where personnel expenditure accounts for 74 per cent and collection development takes up 11 per cent, according to a presentation by Louise Procter Maio, chief executive officer of the library board.

Bishop said the “gateway” to cutting personnel cost is shortening hours. Sunday services will be one of the options for the board to consider as well.

The central branch at 1 Atkinson St. currently opens from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays, where Bishop estimates more than 1,000 people visit on any given Sunday.

Bishop said the library today has evolved beyond being just a place for books. It offers an array of free but essential services for the community, especially for those who don't have that kind of access at home.

“What makes public libraries so valuable is the way they provide access to everybody to things like the internet.”