Library funding comes from a variety of sources

The funds that pay the bills @Your Library, and that assure quality staff, collections, programs, and services to our users and much of southwest Iowa, come from a variety of sources.

Approximately 93% of the library's budget comes from the general fund property tax levied by the City of Council Bluffs, the same general fund that provides public information from the Health Department and good parks and recreation facilities, among a variety of other city services.

Another 4% of the library's financial support comes from contracts for library services with Pottawattamie County and the cities of Neola, Treynor, Crescent, McClelland, and Underwood. Rural residents of the county, and citizens residing in those five communities, receive the same level of library service as people living in Council Bluffs. The contract amounts we receive from these sources are also based on a property tax levy.

The State of Iowa provides Your Library about 2% of its revenues, through several programs authorized by the Governor and the Iowa General Assembly and administered by the State Library. This year we will receive a little over $16,000 in direct state. Those funds will be used in a variety of ways, including purchase of books and other library materials, computer equipment, and a new wall of tackboard now being installed in the "Once Upon a Time" youth activities room. An additional amount, approximately $4,000, will come to us from the state's Infrastructure budget. Most of that has already been spent on Guardian Plus hardware installed on all public computers, intended to make administration of this technology by library staff more efficient and cost effective, and access to the Internet by the public more consistent and "user-friendly". Over $2,600 also comes from the state in the form of partial reimbursement for materials loaned to other libraries throughout Iowa and materials loaned to walk-in borrowers who live outside our direct service areas.

Finally, about 1% of the remaining library funding comes from sources labeled "other". This category includes such things as the grant from the Iowa West Foundation for Sunday hours over a three-year period, and reimbursement for miscellaneous services provided to the Southwest Iowa Library Service Area.

As Andy Griffith used to say back in his younger days as an entertainer, "We appreciate it, and thanks for your support!"