Director for the Bonnyville Municipal Library Ina Smith is hoping the next MD government to form after October 16th will up their funding to the same as what the town gives per capita.
Smith was presenting the library’s budget and annual review to town council on Tuesday when she pointed out that since the MD scrapped its library board, they now get about 50,000 dollars directly from the province. However, she says this has also resulted a significant decrease in funding from the MD.
“They [The MD] pay about $12.99 per capita. I looked at the new population numbers for the Town of Bonnyville and the town is about 19 dollars and 96 cents.
“Since the MD of Bonnyville Library Board doesn’t exist any longer, perhaps we need to have an agreement with the MD concerning the library and what kind of monetary agreement there should be.”
Smith pointed out that use of the library is almost a fifty-fifty split between MD and town residents.
“We’re serving the town and MD equally, but we aren’t getting the same amount… if the MD was to give the same amount as the town, that would really help the library. That would be about a 63,000 dollar increase to our budget, which means we could staff our library better and do some other things better.”
The Bonnyville Municipal Library received $115,724.80 from the MD this year, and $126,308.25 from the town. The library currently employees three full time staff as well as another three part timers and one summer student. This is below the Alberta government’s recommended staffing to maintain “essential’ service.