With Palm Coast officials worried that a planned 23 percent cut in library hours and a significant cut in staffing at the Palm Coast branch will hurt patrons and programming once the Bunnell branch opens in December, Flagler County officials are pledging that staffing will be adjusted next spring should usage figures show a need.
In July, County Administrator Heidi Petito presented a budget to the County Commission that called for a cut from 52 hours to 40 hours of operation at the Palm Coast branch. It would be closed Sunday and Monday. But with the opening of the Nexus Center in Bunnell, overall library hours would increase, and library service would be available seven days a week when the two locations’ hours are combined. (See: “Palm Coast Library Hours Will Be Cut 23% and Staff Reduced, Shifting Resources to New Nexus Center in Bunnell.”)
Palm Coast City Council member Ty Miller wanted to explore the possibility of this coming fiscal year–and just that fiscal year–making up the county’s cuts to the Palm Coast branch library with city money. Those cults amount to about $180,000 to $190,000, based on numbers Petito gave Interim City Manager Lauren Johnston. Miller isn’t interested in a recurring grant that becomes part of the county’s budget.
Miller also suggested the county and the city could split the cost of the impact. “I don’t know if it looks like splitting the difference there to get through this year, if there’s any wiggle room to find some of that money on both ends,” Miller said.
“Conceptually, I support looking at it,” Council member Theresa Pontieri said. “But I also have to say we have zero say over so many things, most things that the county spends our resident tax dollars on, including the library. We have no say as to how the library is run, anything operational about it. So I would want to take a deeper look.” Pontieri was critical of the $16 million spent to build the second library, in light of other pressing needs. The project was celebrated not too long ago as an achievement a decade and a half in the making, only for a pair of newly elected county commissioners to sour its emergence.
Miller made his suggestion at last week’s council meeting, and both governments discussed it at a joint meeting the following day, when Commission Chair Andy Dance was reluctant to revisit the county budget.
“I had the same concerns about initially reducing those hours,” Dance said. “Maybe in March we come back to the city council with some numbers and show you how the facilities are being utilized and how they changed.”
The data presumably will show how many people are visiting each branch and how the numbers differ for the Palm Coast branch from the time before the Nexus Center opened. But county and city officials did not set parameters beyond that. Raw data of the sort may not be clearly indicative of the impact unless it also includes data on all current clubs, programs and meetings’ current attendance compared to future attendance, and data on what programs may have been eliminated, reduced, or moved.
Patrons don’t go to the library just to check out books, read periodicals or use the library’s computers. It’s not just about the number of people who walk in the door. There are a dozen adult programs, from creative writing seminars to tech assistance to internet safety classes and resume writing workshops. There are a half dozen children’s programs and a dozen clubs and activities for tweens and teens. The meeting room is heavily used by organizations and associations.
“It’s busy. It’s used. People use it every day, all day long,” Miller said. The Nexus Center in Bunnell will be a boon to that side of the county, but “it’s going to limit some of those times that the north end of town has available to them in our library.”
“It’s not so much a lack of service that you’ll see at the Palm Coast branch,” Petito said. “It will be probably a little decrease in the programs,” County Administrator Heidi Petito said. Those can’t be run by volunteers, she said, after Mayor Mike Norris suggested volunteers could fill in gaps. The county is not looking to “harm” youth and children programming, Petito said. “It might be at a different location, might be a little different than the way that’s delivered today,” she said.
Miller and the rest of the council seemed satisfied with Dance’s suggestion of a March report, which put to rest–for now–any suggestion that Palm Coast would backfill the $180,000 to $190,000 cut. That also means the planned staffing, programming and scheduling cuts will go forward in December.
“I still don’t want to lose the service level,” Miller said, “but if we are committed to making sure that we’re evaluating those numbers after it opens, to maybe readjust that staffing or those hours for the library, then I think I’m okay with that.”
BIG Neighbor says
This generation is stingy, stingy with money which is shrinking, stingy in its sharing opportunities with having to force elders to work a longer duration in their careers displacing younger people from meaningful employment, stingy with affording and facilitating public amenities to those less fortunate to a better quality of life, all in the names of corporate outsourcing and privatization to fuel inflation. Penny wise and nickel foolish.
DP says
Great idea, “NOT” I get the hours are being reduced. The citizens pay both county and city taxes. This is strictly a county issue. This commission seems to have everyone else’s concerns, but the actual citizens of Palm Coast in mind.
$ 190,000 can damn sure help our failing infrastructure and roads. But like Pontieri said about the animal control costs. The registration fees haven’t been raised since incorporation, we could raise it ” just add my costs for the citizens “so we could use that money to fund the animal control costs. Again how about the council control the openly suggestive spending of the city’s money to other governments. And focus on the citizens of Palm Coast. Its time we the voters make a difference, if the commission doesn’t. Either tighten the cities budget as most of the citizens have to do to live, or time to vote you OUT.
PaulT says
It would seem logical for Palm Coast City Council to have input into Flagler County budgets when the bulk of county funding comes from Palm Coast residents. That said, I wonder if we can trust the City councillors to make responsible decisions, considering their track record.
As to County Cpmmission reducing library hours, lt feels like another attack on free access to books and publications for Flagler’s younger generation whose school libraries are being restricted by the School Board’s kow towing to the self righteous ‘anti woke’ mob. But hey, in this new age pointless beach replenishment and a new pier are considered way more important than satisfying the curious minds of the county’s children.
just wait for it says
The county budget for 25/26 goes from 10/1/25 to 9/30/26. If there is no money for extra library staff in this budget, then how can Heidi Petito say come spring they might be able to increase staff? This is Heidi going around the commissioners once again to get what she and Holly Albabese want.
Michael J Cocchiola says
The public library system is a cornerstone of civic life in Palm Coast and Flagler County, with over 20,000 visits per month at the Palm Coast branch alone. When the sorely-needed Bunnell branch begins operations, Flagler citizens of all ages from Bunnell and farther south will have convenient access to the many services of a first-class library system. You’ll see children having fun learning, teens using this serene environment to advance the knowledge that’ll help improve their grades, and adults from young to senior, enriching their lives with programs that will augment their skills and enhance their physical and mental health.
It is worth the cost to keep our library system just as modern and vibrant as we wish for our towns and cities.