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WILKES-BARRE — The longer the state budget impasse continues, the more the Luzerne County Library System will have to cut back on services, its administrator warned Tuesday.
The system stopped its delivery service last week due to the lack of funding from the state, said Richard Miller, system administrator, in a prepared statement.
The Osterhout Free Library, headquarters for the county system, received one of two payments from the county and picked up the slack by paying for the six-days-a-week delivery service. But Miller said the non-mandated service was curtailed in order to comply with the obligations of accepting state funding, even when no aid is coming in.
“Unless a state budget is passed soon and funds rushed through the bureaucracy, there may be a crisis point for some members of the library system,” Miller said.
Next year there might be further reductions in hours of operation, adult and youth programs, and online databases and the purchase of new materials, he said.
Lawmakers have been unable to agree on the budget proposed by Gov. Tom Wolf who took office in January. It was due July 1 and school districts and counties have maintained services without the help of the state. But Luzerne County nearly shut down and county council voted to borrow up to $20 million for payroll, debt service and to provide essential services.
The 10 libraries in the county-wide system served approximately 900,000 people last year. This past August, approximately 6,000 items were delivered and Miller said that number increases during the winter months and as the new school year begins.
According to Miller, when the delivery service was in operation a driver made dropoffs and pickups of books, videos, audio recordings and research material at 17 public libraries, as well as at local colleges, schools and hospitals, including the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Wilkes-Barre.