revised July 2011

As state funding to public libraries continues to fall, Ritter Public Library trustees are working hard to cut costs and reduce spending.

State funding, which used to make up about 50 percent of Ritter’s income, has fallen by about 23 percent over the past four years. Ohio’s biennium budget, approved in June 2011, included further cuts for public libraries. Other sources of funding for Ritter, such as local property taxes and income from investments, have also dropped.

In response, trustees have made cuts in nearly every department. Even though the size of the building nearly doubled when an addition was opened in 2010, trustees have managed to reduce spending by about $170,000 since 2008, a reduction of about 7 percent.

But cuts in spending have not been able to keep pace with the decline in funding and trustees have been using savings to cover the budget shortfall. Trustees will continue to monitor the library’s financial situation and caution that future cuts may be considered.

The charts below show how the library’s income has dropped, and how expenditures have been cut. The Public Library Fund (PLF) is from the state.

(Funds for the building addition come from a local bond issue, approved by voters in 2007. These funds are already committed and are not in jeopardy.)