Skip to content

Viewpoint: Costs of operating the library

by Shehzad Somji There have been several discussions and letters to the Peak recently in which the cost to operate the Powell River Public Library has been challenged.

by Shehzad Somji There have been several discussions and letters to the Peak recently in which the cost to operate the Powell River Public Library has been challenged.

The library board of trustees customarily refrains from entering into such discussions as we are content for people to make their own judgments about the high quality of the services that we provide to our community. Further, we acknowledge that notwithstanding the importance of having a great public library service in Powell River, it is expensive to do so.

However, there are some matters of fact and clarification, with respect to library operating costs, that we wish to provide so that the public has the opportunity to gain a clearer understanding of library expense.

Our 2012 operating budget is $1,035,914. Of that, $132,395 is depreciation expense which has no effect on the taxpayer at all. So, what we will actually spend to produce the services of the library in 2012 is $903,519.

Beginning in 2009 we were required by the province to include depreciation expense in our budget. Comparing our current budget with an earlier year that does not include depreciation expense is truly like comparing apples to oranges, so we recommend that you analyze such comparisons very carefully and if you have questions, just ask us.

The City of Powell River will fund $547,775 of library expense in 2012; $530,222 of this is for operating expense and $17,553 is for capital projects.

The library gets only 59 per cent of its operating revenue from the city, ignoring depreciation expense. The rest comes from Powell River Regional District, the province, the federal government, donations and self-generated revenue or reserves.

Except for $25,000 in capital funding approved by the city and regional district in 2010, all money spent on developing the new library design has been donated.

We have seen some pretty wide-ranging speculation about how much a new library will cost to operate. We acknowledge that it will cost more to operate a new library when it is built. We are estimating those additional costs now and will publish them with the report on the new library design as soon as that is approved by the board.

Anyone who has questions about this or any other library matter may address them to the board at info@powellriverlibrary.ca or by sending a letter to the board at the library.

Shehzad Somji is chair of the Powell River Public Library board of trustees and writes on behalf of the board.