Wow. Hold your breath or this one will knock it right out of you . . .
According to their website, the Eureka Illinois Public Library District serves a population of 6,231.
Most libraries show a "registered user" base somewhere between 60 - 85% of their district population. Let's be generous and assume Eureka's is 85%. That gives us 5,296 registered users. We couldn't find current figures, but in 2002, according to the Illinois Library Association's own figures, Illinois Libraries averaged around $25 in spending per capita; $54 in spending per registered user. Let's inflate that last number for the ensuing years and call it $57 per user now.
Eureka's 2007-08 budget calls for $617,000 in operating expenses which is a whopping $117 per user. Salaries, Health Insurance, and Retirement Funding alone is $285,000 which comes out to $54 per user per year! Don't even get us started on what is termed "travel" in the budget at $10,500. That is more than the line item expense for periodicals.
In fact, the personnel expense plus travel is nearly three times the amount budgeted for library materials (books, audiovisual, periodicals, and software)!"
Something is seriously wrong with this picture.
"Sir, step away from the property tax trough with your hands in plain sight!"
According to their website, the Eureka Illinois Public Library District serves a population of 6,231.
Most libraries show a "registered user" base somewhere between 60 - 85% of their district population. Let's be generous and assume Eureka's is 85%. That gives us 5,296 registered users. We couldn't find current figures, but in 2002, according to the Illinois Library Association's own figures, Illinois Libraries averaged around $25 in spending per capita; $54 in spending per registered user. Let's inflate that last number for the ensuing years and call it $57 per user now.
Eureka's 2007-08 budget calls for $617,000 in operating expenses which is a whopping $117 per user. Salaries, Health Insurance, and Retirement Funding alone is $285,000 which comes out to $54 per user per year! Don't even get us started on what is termed "travel" in the budget at $10,500. That is more than the line item expense for periodicals.
In fact, the personnel expense plus travel is nearly three times the amount budgeted for library materials (books, audiovisual, periodicals, and software)!"
Something is seriously wrong with this picture.
"Sir, step away from the property tax trough with your hands in plain sight!"
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