TIFTON — State and local budgets cuts have affected two local libraries. In response, both have planned extra furlough days for employees in an attempt to survive under current and anticipated budget cuts.

Carrie Zeiger, the director of the Coastal Plains Regional Library, and Victoria Horst, the Tifton-Tift County Public Library’s head librarian, both said as the economy and their budgets shrink, the public is seeking more services from the agencies.

Most of the employees at the regional library are state employees, Zeiger said, and have been mandated by the state to take three furlough days by the end of December in order to trim the budget. Zeiger said the Georgia Board of Regents announced another reduction of 8 percent of the library’s budget yesterday.

“As a statewide decision with the public library directors, we decided to take three more furlough days before June 30,” Zeiger said. “It’s not mandated by the state, but we had to get to the 8 percent reduction.”

“I’m trying to be proactive instead of reactive and looking at taking small measures now and bigger measures later,” Horst said.

The Tifton-Tift County Public Library on Love Avenue is usually open the day after Thanksgiving, but this year, the library will be closed Nov. 25-29. The book drop will also be locked on those days and will re-open on Nov. 30 when the library re-opens.

“We hate to do it, but we have to cut costs somewhere,” Zeiger said.

Zeiger said the traffic flow through libraries over the holidays is usually low and being able to cut off the electricity and close up the building will save money.

Horst said the state has cut the Tifton-Tift County Library’s budget by 70 percent and the City of Tifton, Tift County Commissioners and the Tift County Board of Education haven’t increased their financial support for the coming year. The public library has eight full-time and five part-time employees and there were 20 on the payroll when Horst was hired, she said. Since the library has been moved back to the newly renovated location on Love Avenue, there are three service desks where before there were two and two floors for employees to cover.

“We have to have people at those desks all the time,” Horst said.

According to Horst, her library has seen an increase in book and DVD circulation of 17 percent. Zeiger said the state average last year was a 9 percent increase in book and DVD circulation.

“People are here filling out job applications, creating resumes and taking tests,” Zeiger said. “It’s a happening place.”

Horst said she received a letter Monday from the Georgia Department of Revenue informing her the state is not going to mail out paper tax returns this year to people who filed on paper. The letter read, in part, Horst said, “In an effort to go green, the department will no longer ship individual booklets to Georgia tapayers who previously filed by paper. This may increase tax payer requests for booklets.”

“They are saying that if you want one, you need to go to the public library,” Horst said.

Zeiger said 1,544 people visited the Tifton-Tift County Public Library Nov. 2-9 at a time when funding for library materials has been cut 68.1 percent.

The Tifton-Tift County Library Foundation holds fundraisers and contributes financially to the library.

“That’s why the work of the foundation is so important,” Zeiger said.



To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.