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County Commissioners Propose Outsourcing Library Services

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Town Hall Meeting - Rockwall Library & Budget Cuts

As the county commissioners move along with the building of the $30 million courthouse, plans are being made to implement budget cuts at different levels of county government. At the forefront is the proposal to outsource services at the Rockwall County Public Library. In an effort to get more information to the public, a Facebook page has been established - Save the Rockwall Library. The page moderator attended yesterday's meeting and reported the following:

June 7, 2011 - The budget discussion at the county commissioners court this afternoon was interesting. The fact is that cuts need to be made to the county budget and since there will be no additional sources of revenue some sacrifices have to be made. The main focus of the discussion now is how much to cut and if the outsourcing option should be pursued. Marcine McCulley, library director, made a presentation with 3 different library-led cost-cutting scenarios and what would be the effect of each - $100,000, $200,000 and $300,000. Commissioner Magness said that he believes "we still have our head above water" and it is possible that the budget could suffice with only a $100,000 cut and that the outsourcing idea is unpopular and not a good option. Judge Hogan disagrees. Both commissioner Magness and Grinnan agree that the current library hours and services should remain as they are and that should be a top priority. Judge Hogan said that he would like to get a proposal from LSSI (the library outsourcing company) and since they have said they could do the job for $300,000 less, that if the library could match that then that would something to consider.

According to Judge Hogan, LSSI can provide the same hours of operation and programs as we have currently, but for $300k less, which would meet his budgetary recommendation. He would like to save tax increases for infrastructure and not for operating expenses, especially since the library is not state-mandated. It is a business decision. He said that LSSI says that they can provide a retirement plan for employees (although it is a more volatile 401k rather than the state retirement plan) and healthcare. All employees would be asked to resign and then re-apply. Typically 50-75% are hired back. (My question would be at what kind of pay cut or hour reduction.) They can save money on circulation because they are a large company and can receive volume discount on book purchases.

To boil it down, in my opinion the issue is how much they cut and if they pursue a contract for outsourcing with LSSI. I am not a journalist, just a concerned citizen who took the day away from my kids so I could get a better grasp on this issue. I will post stories by the local media as they become available. I would like to thank the good people of the court, the library and the Friends of the Library for welcoming me into their discussion today. It was a very interesting and educational experience! I encourage all of you to sit in on one of these sessions so we can all become a little more well-versed on the inner-workings of our local government and how our funds are working for us and those we care about in our community.

Darcy Rocha
Save the Rockwall Library
Facebook

Related Calendar Event - June 13 Town Hall Meeting