Monday, February 24, 2014

Desperately Seeking Revenue


Proposal to rescue library tops city agenda.  (The News-Gazette, 2/24/2014)

Ideas "tossed about" by the library board.
  1. Charge for all meeting room use
    • Starting in January 2015
    • Non-residents and for-profit groups currently charged
    • Extend fee to nonprofit groups
    • Estimated revenue:  $80,000 annually
  2. Charge for parking in library's lot
    • Suggested amount:  75 cents per hour
    • Estimated revenue:  $214,000 annually
    • This idea has been rejected.
Taking a closer look.

Meeting room use fees.  The article notes that the 20 most frequent users of library meeting space account for $50,000 of that potential revenue.

Let's see, $50,000 divided by 20 = $2,500. 

On average, how many community nonprofits have an extra $2,500 in their annual operating budgets?  And the city of Champaign is going to pay somewhere between $7,000 and $8,500, as projected, when officials have been chipping away at the library budget for years?  It just doesn't add up for me, folks.

Parking fees.   The board rejected the idea because the public dislike for parking fees outweighed the relatively low projected return.  Along with the likelihood that it would discourage people from visiting the library.  When it comes to parking, the operating words are "free" and "convenient". 

The phrase "relatively low projected return" makes me wonder why $214,000 in parking revenues is suddenly chickenfeed while $80,000 in meeting room fees remains on the conference room table.  I guess it has to do with pissing off fewer people.

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