AGENDA ITEM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ITEM TITLE
title
OutofTown Library Fee for Orange County Residents Who Live Outside the Chapel Hill Corporate Limits
presenter
RESPONSIBLE STAFF, TITLE, DEPARTMENT
Atlas Logan, Director, Library and Community Arts & Culture
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that Council adopt a resolution instituting an annual $65 Out-of-Town Fee for Orange County residents living outside the corporate limits of Chapel Hill.
body
ACTION/DECISION POINTS*
Council must approve or reject the resolution.
LEGISLATIVE CONTEXT
For decades, the?topic of Orange County funding for the Chapel Hill Public Library (CHPL) has been discussed in an ad hoc fashion.?Rather than being based on an equitable formula, the funding provided by the county?has been set at an?arbitrary amount.
In 2023,?the two jurisdictions created a task force?to study?this issue and?to recommend a?thoughtful?and sustainable approach.?The task force included elected officials, library advisory board members, Friends of the Library leaders, and?senior?library leadership from both the county and the town.??
After months of work, the task force unanimously?and strongly recommended a formula that would base county?funding?for CHPL on the number of county residents who live in Chapel Hill and have primary library access via the Town of Chapel Hill. At the time of the study, the?county was providing approximately $568,000 in funding to CHPL. Based on the new formula, it was determined that CHPL was being underfunded, and the task force recommended a phased approach that would bring the county’s funding level up to the?appropriate amount?of $1.4 million by 2028.??
Rather than phasing in the funding increase, the county has since voted to phase out this funding completely.
In Fiscal Year 2027, they will provide $414,316.
In Fiscal Year 2028, we expect them to provide $207,108.
In Fiscal Year 2029, we expect them to provide no funding.
The amount of Orange County funding expected i...
Click here for full text