02/22/06 Funding Task Force Receives LLGSF Overview
The Ohio legislature's Local Government and Library Revenue Distribution Task Force met for a third time on February 15. At the meeting, Chris Hall of the Ohio Department of Taxation provided an overview of the Library and Local Government Support Fund (LLGSF). He provided a helpful and balanced history of the LLGSF, a look back at the intangible property tax, a review of the LLGSF formula (guarantee share, equalization share), and examples of library funding in Ohio relative to other states.
Hall explained the benefits of the base share equalization formula and its relative success in moving libraries closer to a per capita distribution as compared to the previous intangibles tax. He also explained that much of the reason the equalization formula had not been entirely successful was because of the change of the LLGSF from 6.3% to 5.7% as well as recent cuts and freezes. He discussed library funding in Ohio relative to other states, with specific references to the fact that Ohio's libraries rank among the highest in the nation according to the HALPR ranking of library systems across the nation. He said, "Ohio was ranked number one in both the 2004 and 2005 HAPLR ratings. Three Ohio library systems (Columbus, Cuyahoga County, and Cincinnati-Hamilton County) rank among the top 10 of the nation's largest library systems, with Columbus number one in the nation. Ohio also has strong representation among the various medium-sized library system rankings. Medina County, Washington-Centerville, Westlake, North Canton, and Wright Memorial libraries are all at the top of their population categories." He also commented that Ohio's public libraries are number one in the level of state funding, but only after he explained the high quality of Ohio's library systems.
The few questions posed by committee members were generally positive in nature. By no means does this mean that the OLC's work with the committee is done but it was a very positive day for libraries. At the next meeting, representatives from the Department of Budget and Management will talk about projections of funding in the future.
Assisting the OLC in its work with the committee is former Senator Richard Finan, author of the LLGSF. He attended the hearing and was a very strong presence for public libraries.
