Contra Costa County libraries are the lowest-funded in the Bay Area. Why are they so successful?

MARTINEZ Library cards book checkouts and adult literacy programs have surged across Contra Costa County developing numerous department records despite being provided free of charge by the lowest-funded Bay Area library system of its kind The library s proposed million budget is one of the smallest pots within the billion that will be allocated countywide in the next fiscal year and its services come at virtually no cost This funding is divvied up to all branches which are located in cities five unincorporated communities and one juvenile hall as well as a slew of other online and group guidance While the department s budget is fully balanced and doesn t operate at a deficit county executives commented its small staff and lack of funding is hampering ongoing efforts to make improvements and expand support such as restoring Sunday hours Alison McKee who took the helm as county librarian in reported Contra Costa lags behind the four other county-run library departments in the Bay Area when measuring local income per capita which divides total establishment funding by provision area population Since county voters have rejected four separate ballot measures for additional library funding which require a supermajority to pass One proposal to hike taxes by less than a dime lost by fewer than votes At this time library operations are funded almost entirely by local property taxes revenue that is capped at of a property s full assessed value otherwise known as the ad valorem rate Contra Costa County then allocates of that sliver to the library department McKee didn t bring up this history to ask for more money As county executives reviewed department-level budget proposals for the upcoming fiscal year McKee pointed to library staff s track record of making ends meet with modest amounts of cash This is our reputation in libraries in the Bay Area we do a lot with very little McKee reported the Board of Supervisors She announced one silver lining has been the partnerships that have grown with other local governments and charitable organizations divvying up responsibility for things like building maintenance and extended hours of operation beyond the county s -hour weekly baseline Contra Costa s library system has never overspent its allotted funds Since the department is never fully staffed any budgeted but unspent dollars go into a dedicated library fund which can be used to acquire new collections as well as fund facility projects and other one-time expenditures McKee reported that flexible fund balance is critical to afford all other non-staffing costs especially as salaries and benefits for the department s roughly full-time county staff positions account for nearly of the department s expenditures Specifically the leftover cash has helped fuel the million plan to build a new -square-foot library as part of the transit-oriented advance planned for the Pittsburg-Bay Point BART station located in the largest unincorporated society in Contra Costa County that lacks easy library access However cost savings doesn t make up for the fact that staff is still spread too thin McKee announced which has hindered efforts to restore Sunday hours beyond the self-service pilot effort that was rolled out at the Concord branch in December McKee revealed last week that of all households in Contra Costa County use a library card at least once a year which is the highest rate of territory reach since the metric was established in Digital checkouts are also up compared to rates before the pandemic an increase that McKee announced has helped compensate for the ongoing lag in physical visits to libraries in fresh years However library patrons continue to devour non-digital media The department communicated that the number of physical checkouts was more than double the rate of e-books Participation in the county s adult literacy activity Project Second Chance also surged this year which McKee mentioned is the highest rate on record In addition to ongoing tech upgrades at all branch locations accessibility improvements and tweaks to streamline online renewals she also pointed to the first anniversary of the Rolling Reader which celebrated its first year on the road in November of As opposed to a bookmobile Contra Costa s library department receives roughly in Measure X dollars each year to drive this early literacy outreach van to low-income communities By delivering children s books early literacy tools and STEM pursuits McKee declared the goal is to help families expand their own home libraries California is the largest benefactor of the grants to states IMLS undertaking which distributes roughly million annually Part of that money provides free online subscriptions to the New York Times through all community libraries in the state While the department is anticipating that this subsidized access may fizzle by July libraries in Contra Costa County plan to use money in its dedicated fund balance to foot the bill As state and federal funding levels for all library programs remain uncertain staff lauded the numerous partnerships across its branches where a range of wellness teams social workers veteran services mobile soundness clinics and other population services operate at library locations Supervisor John Gioia echoed that praise The big issue we unfailingly face is how do we try to obtain more funding for libraries across the county Gioia stated That s consistently been a challenge