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Cochrane Library concerned about provincial funding

MLA says funding worries are overblown, misinformation
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Rows of books at the Cochrane Public Library.

Public libraries throughout Alberta will be holding their breaths as half of the provincial funding for the year has been postponed until the budget is finalized in October.

Government funding makes up about 15 per cent of Cochrane Public Library's budget which works out to about $145,000 annually. Typically, this funding comes in one large lump sum but this year that will be cut in half.

"It's not a surprise considering that we knew Jason Kenney was talking about cuts to education, libraries always fall into that," said Jeri Maitland, CEO/director, with the library.

Cochrane's Provincial library funding has been frozen at 2016's population but the town has grown exponentially since then.

Maitland said the effect has been about a $25,000 shortfall in funding.

"We will see what happens. Other rural libraries that are around our size and bigger, we're a little concerned. We know that we will be able to fumble by but our budgets are all really tight," she said.

Although there is no cause for panic yet, Maitland says smaller libraries will be most affected by any funding shortages as they depend on government funding to keep their doors open.

Cochrane's library will face some tough decisions if the other half of the funding doesn't come and one likely scenario is the library being closed on Sundays.

"It just means that the public will have less access to all of the wonderful resources that we provide to the community," said Maitland.

While people always ask if libraries are still relevant, Maitland points to Calgary's recent build of a $245-million dollar library that sees 5,000 people using it each day.

Cochranites like their library as well.

"Right now, we have more than 400 people a day coming through our little library, so I'm concerned about the cut but all it means is that there are some people that need to be educated on the value of libraries and I'm hopeful that we won't have to deal with the outcome of a financial cut," said Maitland.

Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie says the concerns are overblown. Typically what happens is the fiscal year begins April 1 so budgets are put forward by mid-March and then the upcoming year will work on a funding budget model, according to Guthrie.

"Because the NDP did not put out a budget for this year, we went into election effectively on the same funding model as 2018 and that's what we are still running on and that's how we are funding all departments across the province," said Guthrie.

In the interim, the province is providing organizations with the six-months of their funding instead of fronting the full 12-months.

"Right now, we have the Mackinnon panel that's being led by Janice Mackinnon, she is a former finance minister for the NDP in Saskatchewan. She is heading a panel to provide feedback as to the current fiscal position of the province. From her findings, we will then develop the budget, which will be released in October," said Guthrie, adding, "The remainder (of the funding) will come in the fall."

Though Maitland is concerned about what that final budget might look like, she sees the issue as an opportunity.

"I never think that these things are bad news. All this has done has put libraries back in the newspaper. People are having a conversation about it and I say this all the time, library supporters are very quiet until you threaten their accessibility and then, all of sudden, they're up in arms and the government will hear about it, guaranteed."

Since 2016, Albertans have had access to over 21 million books, CDs, DVDs, eBooks and other materials across public libraries and over 1.4 million people have participated in programs offered.

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