Closure possible for new Ripon library
Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 05:12PM 
The Ripon Memorial Library will be closed for 10 days beginning in November as a result of the City of Stockton budget deficit. 50% of the Ripon Memorial Library funding which includes staffing, and daily operations is provided by the Stockton-San Joaquin Branch Library. The other 50% comes from San Joaquin County. The City of Ripon owns the building and through the cities General Fund, pays the utilities, and performs the required maintenance for the building. That number represents about $90,000 annually. That figure came into play during the City Council budget discussions two weeks ago when the council was deliberating how to reduce a $500,000 deficit. At that time, the library was not considered as a cost reduction option. During that same meeting a representative from Stockton San Joaquin Public library was asked by the council if the Ripon library would be forced to close if the city did decide to eliminate the annual maintenance costs, and the answer was yes. Since the City of Stockton requested that it cut it's own library funding by $1 million, that directly impacted all of the San Joaquin libraries including Ripon. Additional closure dates are expected but the City of Stockton and the Stockton-San Joaquin Branch Library has released the following furlough closure dates for it's city offices and buildings as well as San Joaquin Libraries:
November 10 & 11, 2008
November 24-28 2008 (Thanksgiving Week)
December 24-26 2008
December 29-January 2, 2009
Book Drops will also be closed during the above dates
For additional information visit www.stocktongov.com/hours or call (209)937-8827
The City of Ripon will make it's final decision on the fate of the Ripon Memorial Library on election day November 4th at 6pm.
RELATED ARTICLES:
ModBee-Will Ripon cut programs or cut into Rainy Day fund?
GOOD READING
Bill & Melinda Gates awards grant for library study: From Awareness to Funding
Reader Comments