Communities in Need

1
Communities in Need

• Dianne Carty, Bonnie Burnham, Diane Giarrusso, Em
  Claire Knowles, Denis Lesieur, Vanessa Verkade

2
Tasks

• Justify the fiscal indicators used (Piggford
  formula)
• Look at other indicators used
• Determine the thresholds that would place a
  community into program sections A B
• Align reciprocity with the program proposed by
  the LFRG
• Prepare some examples of how the program would
  work

3
Justify the fiscal indicators

• The subcommittee feels that the Piggford
  fiscal indicators are useful because
• There is historical precedencethey were used by
  the MBLC to determine fiscal hardship for MAR
  waivers, and
• They factor in more than one indicator, thereby
  allowing a more complete picture of a communitys
  economic ranking and/or ability to pay for
  library services.

4
Other indicators used

• The MBLC State Aid to Public Libraries program
  and its disbursement of funds is unlike any other
  state agency or program therefore it is
  difficult at best to compare indicators between
  agencies or programs. The MA state aid program is
  also unlike other states library aid programs,
  and indeed, is considered a stronger program,
  making it difficult to compare.

5
Determine the thresholds that would place a
community into section A or B of the program

• The subcommittee discussed several ideas for
  determining the thresholds. In studying the
  Piggford fiscal indicators and the 2005
  Municipal Pie we discovered that there is no
  real correlation between the fiscal indicators
  and the amount of money per capita that
  communities were spending on libraries.

6
Determine the thresholds that would place a
community into section A or B of the program

• Our goal was then to find an indicator (and a
  threshold) that was the fairest and that made the
  most sense, and one that could work with any per
  capita floor set by the MBLC. As a result, the
  subcommittee decided upon a new way to determine
  the threshold funneling communities into sections
  A or B.

7
Determine the thresholds that would place a
community into section A or B of the program

• Recommendation Essentially throwing out the
  previously proposed Piggford fiscal indicators.
  The subcommittee now proposes using the
  communitys per capita spending on libraries
  coupled with the percentage of the municipal
  expenditures on libraries as it relates to the
  statewide average of municipal expenditures on
  libraries to determine the threshold that places
  communities into section A or B.

8
Determine the thresholds that would place a
community into section A or B of the program

• Section A
• The community spends less than the per capita
  floor, currently proposed at 10, and the
  community spends below the current state average
  of 1.2 of its total municipal expenditures.
• It is a community that can be considered able to
  pay the per capita floor, and is eligible for
  Section A or the Communities in Need program.

9
Determine the thresholds that would place a
community into section A or B of the program

• Section B
• The community spends less than the per capita
  floor, currently proposed at 10, and the
  community spends above the current state average
  of 1.2 of its total municipal expenditures.
• It is a community that can be considered
  impoverished and eligible for Section B of the
  Communities in Need program. (Because library is
  getting at least as much of the pie as the state
  average, but still unable to allocate at the
  minimum per capita floor.)

10
Align reciprocity with the program proposed by
the LFRG

• Because some members of the larger state aid
  review committee wished to be able to offer
  reciprocity to libraries in the communities in
  need program, the subcommittee discussed this
  idea.

11
Align reciprocity with the program proposed by
the LFRG

• Members wondered if there was a way to offer
  limited, not full, reciprocity to libraries
  since the Communities in Need program is a
  separate arm of the State Aid program working
  with communities who were not full program
  participants.
• One idea was to limit residents access to ILL
  residents could go to other libraries, but could
  not participate in ILL services.
• Another idea was to limit access by requiring
  residents to pick up holds and ILLs at their
  home library, not a neighboring library, as a
  method of forcing them to confront the state of
  their own library.

12
Align reciprocity with the program proposed by
the LFRG

• Shall a community in Section A get any
  reciprocity?
• Because there is not time limit on participation
  in this section, there seemed to be no incentive
  to improve and leave the program if the privilege
  of reciprocity is available to the community.
• Recommendation Therefore, the subcommittee
  agreed that reciprocity should not be available
  to Section A participants as determined by the
  boards of trustees of local public libraries, as
  in the current state aid programsee below
• Libraries in certified municipalities are not
  required to lend library materials to the
  library in the noncertified municipality (605 CMR
  4.01 (6a)).
• Libraries in certified municipalities are not
  required to extend reciprocal library services,
  beyond in-library use of their materials, to
  residents of the noncertified municipality (605
  CMR 4.01 (6b)).

13
Align reciprocity with the program proposed by
the LFRG

• Section B participants
• Although participants would be getting some state
  aid award and capacity building assistance, they
  are still not meeting the per capita floor and/or
  minimum requirements necessary to be a full
  participant in the state aid program.
• The subcommittee determined that if these
  participants received both state aid funding and
  reciprocity, this would constitute a waiver in
  disguisesomething committee members have stated
  they wish to abolish.
• Recommendation The subcommittee agreed that
  reciprocity should not be available to Section B
  participants as determined by the boards of
  trustees of local public libraries, as in the
  current state aid programsee below
• Libraries in certified municipalities are not
  required to lend library materials to the
  library in the noncertified municipality (605 CMR
  4.01 (6a)).
• Libraries in certified municipalities are not
  required to extend reciprocal library services,
  beyond in-library use of their materials, to
  residents of the noncertified municipality (605
  CMR 4.01 (6b)).

14
Reciprocity

• The proposed state aid program is designed to
  encourage local funding for public libraries.
• The state aid program is designed to protect
  library budgets and to push communities to fund
  libraries adequately.
• Reciprocity is currently the incentive used to
  drive communities to adequately fund their local
  libraries.
• There is currently nothing to suggest that the
  privilege of reciprocity will not continue to
  push communities to adequately fund their local
  libraries.
• The state aid program cannot help libraries get
  adequate local financial support if residents are
  able to fully use the services in a neighboring
  library, thereby bypassing the needs of their own
  library.
• In short, the Communities in Need subcommittee
  agrees that if a community is not meeting the per
  capita floor as determined by the MBLC or the
  minimum requirements, two factors that determine
  reciprocity in the LFRG proposal, then this same
  community should not receive reciprocity while in
  the Communities in Need program.

15
Steps to enter the Communities in Need Program

• Library receives Cherry Sheet with estimate of
  State Aid to Public Libraries award.
• Library applies for State Aid.
• If the municipality is able to pay the minimum
  per capita floor and is expending that amount on
  their library, the library is eligible to move on
  to the minimum requirements component of the
  State Aid program.

16
Communities in Need Program

• If municipality falls above the threshold for
  ability to pay minimum per capita, but is not
  currently meeting the minimum per capita
  expenditure, it qualifies for the Communities in
  Need program, Section A.
• If municipality falls below the threshold for
  ability to pay the minimum per capita, and is
  currently not meeting the minimum per capita
  expenditure, it qualifies for the Communities in
  Need program, Section B.

17
Communities in Need Program

• The purpose of the program is to provide
  libraries with the opportunity to work toward
  meeting the per capita floor and minimum
  requirements through capacity building and/or
  direct cash awards.
• Cash awards will be drawn from the Equalization
  Grant award pot (the Cherry Sheet amounts are
  calculated annually for each municipality as if
  their library were meeting the minimum per capita
  floor).

18
Communities in Need ProgramSection A

• This program aids libraries in capacity building
  within their municipality and involves no cash
  award to participating libraries.
• Upon entering Section A, each library will
  participate in an evaluation to examine the
  funding issues facing them. A capacity building
  plan will be created to assist the library to
  meet expenditure and minimum standards goals (if
  needed).
• The MBLC will contract with and provide
  orientation and training for consultants who will
  work directly with libraries to provide the
  following capacity building training
• Long Range Planning, Advocacy, Marketing,
  Fundraising
• The goal of the training is to help libraries to
  plan, educate and advocate within their
  communities resulting in increased support and
  funding for them.
• Libraries may remain in Section A until their
  municipality meets the minimum per capita funding
  expenditure.

19
Communities in Need ProgramSection B

• This program aids libraries in meeting the
  minimum per capita requirement through a
  combination of capacity building training and a
  direct funding to participating libraries.
• The maximum number of years that a library is
  eligible to participate in Section B is four (4)
  Three years with a cash award and one year with
  training only.
• Funds will be allocated each year using a
  declining scale with the expectation that the
  municipalitys local funding to the library
  increase as state funds decrease.
• The key to encouraging communities to better fund
  their libraries in Section B is the understanding
  that 1) there is a limit to the length of time
  that the State Aid Communities in Need program
  funding will be available to them and 2) there is
  an expectation that the municipality will
  increase its local funding as the state assisted
  funding is decreased each year.
• Libraries that have participated in the
  Communities in Need Program will be unable to
  re-enter the program for a three (3) year period.

20
Communities in Need ProgramSection B

• Upon entering Section B, each library will
  participate in an evaluation to examine the
  funding issues facing them.
• A plan will be created to assist the library to
  meet expenditure and minimum standards goals (if
  needed) with the aid of a direct cash award.
• State Aid Communities in Need funds allocated to
  Libraries will be monitored in order to ensure
  that these funds are being used by the Library to
  meet needs expressed in the plan.
• The cash award will be distributed thusly
• Year 1 Library receives 75 of their
  Equalization State Aid award estimate for that
  fiscal year according to their Cherry Sheet and
  begins training in capacity building.
• Year 2 Library receives 50 of their
  Equalization State Aid award estimate for that
  fiscal year according to their Cherry Sheet and
  continues training in capacity building.
• Year 3 Library receives 25 of their
  Equalization State Aid award estimate for that
  fiscal year according to their Cherry Sheet and
  continues training in capacity building.
• Year 4 Library receives no Equalization State
  Aid award and continues training in capacity
  building.

21
Issues for further discussion by the larger state
aid review committee

• How is this program better for my library
  patrons?
• It establishes benchmarks that reflect library
  activity throughout the state.
• The concept of equal access works only if each
  community participates fully.
• The per capita floor is minimal and the
  programs incentives allow libraries to earn more
  money. The current state average per capita
  spending on libraries is 30.
• What are our lobbying points on Town Meeting
  Floor/How do we convince our residents to pay?
• What is the disbursement formula going to be?