Goodrich-The village council approved a new funding plan for the Goodrich Library building at their July 13 meeting.
The new plan aims to eliminate village funding of the Goodrich Library over the next three years and pass the costs on to Atlas Township.
‘It will be up to the township to decide how funding will be realized,? said Council President Ed York.
A funding schedule will begin this year at $6,000, decreasing to $4,000 in 2010; $2,000 in 2011; ending with no payments in 2012 and beyond.
‘As it stands, the village pays 75 percent of the library, and the township pays 25 percent,? said York.
‘We want the township to be totally responsible for library funding in 2012.?
The decision was prompted by an ongoing dispute over repairs and maintenance for the century-old Lyceum library building at 10237 Hegel Road. Built in 1893, the Victorian structure was originally the Atlas Town Hall. Then in 1959 the township sold the building to the village for $100. The village council meetings were there until 2005 when they moved to the new village offices on M-15. The Goodrich Library became part of the Genesee County Library system in August, 1952 and moved into the downtown structure in 1980.
The proposal still has to be approved by the Atlas Township Board.
‘This proposal has not yet been presented to the board,? said Atlas Township Supervisor Shirley Kautman-Jones.’The general consensus is that we will all have to work together to keep the library going in our community,? she said.
‘The council has no intent to dump this on the township all of a sudden. We understand their budget is done for the year? so they can ease into it over the next three years,? said York. ‘There are three issues with the library: funding, building ownership and notification of the Genesee Library system. We’ll address these one at a time.?
York would recommend a township-wide millage or assessments that would earmark funding specifically for library use.
‘We’d have to create a library board but, it would keep the politicians out of the mix. Then money would be less of an issue.?
A small fee or special assessment of $8-$12 per household to operate the library could also be used to expand the use of the building, he said.
‘The library is small, but a lot of people are using it,? York said. ‘There’s only one employee downstairs, so no one can be upstairs alone. We need a part-time employee to utilize the upstairs because we’re only using half of the building.?
The cost of additional employees, paired with building repair and maintenance, is what makes the library an expensive community attribute, added York.
However, the council agreed that the library is a vital piece of Goodrich and should not be lost completely.
‘I don’t think the people are going to allow that to happen,? York said.
Councilmember Dave Lucik said the council’s proposal is the subtle way to back out of library funding.
‘This council is getting blasted for spending too much money, so I would say, boom, let’s just get out of the library,? Lucik said. ‘But, let’s slowly move on and reduce costs, instead.?