Budget uncertainty forces county to reject request for new library worker

County Commissioner this week rejected a request to hire a new part time worker for the Franklin County Public Library.

Library director Anne Birchwell made the request in an effort to expand library hours later into the evening, which she said would allow the library to offer a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math program for local teens.

She does not have the manpower to provide the extra services at this time and said it would cost the county about 12 thousand dollars a year to hire a permanent part-time worker.

County Commissioners, however, said they can’t agree to that request at this time.

The library doesn’t have the funds in its budget for a new worker so the money would have to come out of the county budget.

The bigger problem is that the state has not yet approved its budget and won’t even begin discussing it until the legislature meets in special session in June.

Since much of the library budget is state funded the county is concerned that library funding could be cut which means the library might have to cut services, not expand them.

Commissioners say that until the state works through its budget issues there is no way for them to agree to more hiring.

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