JAMESTOWN – During Tuesday’s Jamestown School Board meeting, officials were informed that the district would be responsible for overseeing the Prendergast Library’s Community-Based Funding initiative, scheduled for June 7.
Under the initiative, the library will ask residents in the Jamestown area to vote to approve an $850,000 funding allocation to help support the library’s programs and services. This funding would account for 65 percent of the library’s overall budget. The remaining 35 percent would come from endowment income and fund-raising.
The initiative is the result of several financial challenges in recent years, that have led to the library facing a budget shortfall in 2017. That shortfall, combined with the possibility of the library losing more if not all of its funding from the city of Jamestown, means the funding initiative may be one of the only ways the library can receive a sustainable funding source for next year and future years.
According to Jamestown School Superintendent Tim Mains, the school district is required by law to facilitate a funding vote at the request of the library, although the school board does have the ability to determine which day and which locations the vote would take place. He said otherwise, the vote has nothing to do with the school’s own budget or school operations.
The board will act on finalizing the date for the library’s vote during its next board meeting on April 19.
If okayed by the school board, the vote for the library’s Community-Based Funding will take place on Tuesday, June 7th at the Library. Polls would be open from Noon. to 9 p.m. Anyone registered as an eligible voter in the school district would also be eligible to vote on the funding initiative.
Leave a Reply