The decision by the County of St. Paul to cut $30,000 from its library budget is an appalling departure from its 2025 Operational Plan, which explicitly lists it will “adequately fund library services.”
Put in further context, this cut is approximately a 28 per cent reduction in overall library funding by the County of St. Paul compared to 2024 and an 11 per cent hit to the overall budget for the Town of St. Paul Municipal Library.
All because the library has the gall to be fiscally responsible with the money saved by the mandated closures during the pandemic.
During the discussion at the County of St. Paul Council meeting when the budget cut was decided, Reeve Glen Ockerman questioned why the library would have a savings account.
Emergencies happen. When the roof leaked several years ago and damaged the flooring inside, the town paid for the roof repair and the library paid for the floor. When the patron bathroom was in desperate need of repair and renovation, it was the library that was ultimately responsible for the cost – with no small amount of work on the part of the board to get permission from Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission to use some of the funds raised by Friends of the Library for that project.
Coun. Maxine Fodness questioned why the library would have a GIC. To clarify, the $30,000 GIC held by the library is a cashable GIC. This means that in the event of an emergency, like a floor or bathroom needing to be repaired, or a delay in receiving funds from municipal partners like the County of St. Paul in 2020, the library can cash the GIC early and has access to those funds.
The Town of St. Paul Municipal Library’s most recent plan of service expires at the end of 2025 and includes the goal: “Strengthen community network and collaboration with other community groups in area.” Below that, the objective “Support community organizations by partnering,” is listed.
The library has excelled at developing relationships with groups in our community. The program room was used 99 times in 2024. Recently, the ACFA hosted their ‘Tente de Lecture,’ and Portage College – Public Legal Education hosted an educational bingo night.
For several years now, Lakeland Family Resource Network has periodically hosted a multi-week Read and Roll program aimed at developing early literacy, speech, and language skills for preschoolers, with Franco-Acceuil hosting a French-language counterpart Lire et Rire. That program is held at the library during a time it is closed to the public, with library staff volunteering their time to the program and providing childcare for younger siblings so parents can actively participate.
The direct impact of an 11 per cent reduction to the library budget will be a reduction in services. Library manager Eunhye Cho was quoted as saying, “We will need to cut our hours significantly, and we will need to cancel a large portion of our programming.”
Cho added, “There isn’t anywhere else that we can cut.”
Reducing hours means less time available for services like exam supervision, which there were 28 of in 2024. It’s less time available for patrons to use computers for job searching, research for school, and document printing. The Wi-Fi network and the eight public computer terminals at the library were used 20,463 times last year – roughly 78 times per day the library was open.
The loss of Saturday and evening hours could also mean the loss of the monthly book club, which is now so active the number of copies of a book in the entire Northern Lights Library System is occasionally a limiting factor in book selection.
It could mean the loss of Family Lego Day, crafts, and other programming geared for parents and children, and the loss of Friday night board games.
I for one, do not wish to see any of these things lost. It is my sincere hope the County of St. Paul council, who so often speak of the need to be fiscally prudent and keep money in reserves for emergencies and future expenses, will reverse this incredibly short-sighted cut to library funding, and adequately fund library services as stated in their 2025 Operational Plan.
Meredith Kerr served as the secretary of the St. Paul Municipal Library Board for eight years from November 2016 – November 2024.
