Fayetteville library should put off expansion, committee says

NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Alyson Low, (left) youth services librarian at the Fayetteville Public Library, laughs Tuesday with Harper Grace Henderson, 3, of Fayetteville as they both cluck like a chicken while singing a song during pre-school story time at the library. For photo galleries, go to nwadg.com/photos.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Alyson Low, (left) youth services librarian at the Fayetteville Public Library, laughs Tuesday with Harper Grace Henderson, 3, of Fayetteville as they both cluck like a chicken while singing a song during pre-school story time at the library. For photo galleries, go to nwadg.com/photos.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The city's public library should return $2 million set aside for a proposed expansion back to the library's foundation instead, members of the facility's revenue committee said Tuesday.

The committee plans to make recommendations to the library's board this summer about how to improve the library's finances and has no decision-making power. Still, the suggestion to reinvest the money instead of holding it as cash on hand signals library leaders believe the proposed purchase of the old City Hospital land is simply too uncertain to keep the money unused.

A lawsuit over what the land can be used for has delayed the purchase and expansion project for months. David Johnson, library executive director, said descendants of the family that donated the land to the city Monday appealed Circuit Judge Cristi Beaumont's ruling against them, which sends the case to the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

Correction

A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the plaintiffs in a lawsuit over City Hospital. The error has been corrected.

A decision there could take a year or more, Johnson said during the committee's meeting Tuesday. The committee has been working since the beginning of the year to find possible cost savings and new sources of money as demand on the library and its programming grows at a greater pace than revenue.

"This (project) is now no longer really in play, at least in the next 20 months or so," Johnson said.

Committee member Maylon Rice, who also sits on the library board, broached the idea of returning the $2 million the foundation gave the library to buy the land.

The foundation, a nonprofit group that supports the library, liquidated the $2 million from its assets last year for the land buy, Johnson said. In return, the library gave up yearly payments of about $120,000 from interest on the foundation's assets to help the foundation rebuild its reserve, Johnson said.

"It made a heck of a lot of sense at the time," Janine Parry, the committee's chairwoman and a board member, said.

Those yearly payments would go a long way to help shore up the library's $500,000 shortfall between its budget this year and its projected needs, a gap library officials expect will only keep growing. If the $2 million had stayed in the foundation's assets, it would've made $600,000 in interest by now, Johnson said.

The committee Tuesday also ruled out several options for raising money elsewhere. Library events and programs for children and adults shouldn't be cut, they said, and the library shouldn't close for one day a week.

Those eliminations leave higher late fees for DVDs and books, charging for VIP tickets to otherwise free author and speaker events, charging for meeting room rentals and other possible actions. Jack Butt, a Fayetteville attorney, said events can cost $40 or more per attendee and could make money through sponsorships and VIP tickets to meet authors, for example.

The committee was split on charging a small fee for library cards and on when and whether to ask the city for a larger slice of property tax money. With the court case dragging on, the question of a millage increase has lost some of its urgency, Parry said.

"No one's going to be trying to get a millage vote on the ballot this fall," she said.

The committee hopes to get final figures on the income from each option and report to the board in June, Parry said.

NW News on 04/01/2015

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