The Brookhaven-Lincoln County Regional Public Library isrequesting a nearly $40,000 increase in annual funding fromsupervisors and aldermen next year.

The county and city boards are presently taking funding requestsfrom their departments as officials prepare next year’s annualbudget. The library system is requesting an increase ofapproximately $35,000 from the county and $3,000 from the city.

“We hope they’ll look favorably on us as they work to determinethe budget,” said Library Director Henry Ledet. “The increase wouldbe used to bring our book budget back up and I would like to see mystaff get a raise.”

The county has not increased its annual appropriation to thelibrary in approximately five years, he said, while utilities,insurance premiums and other costs have continued to climb. Staticfunding and expenditure increases have necessarily caused decreasesin the budget used to purchase books, audio tapes, DVDs and otherservices.

“Hurricane Katrina was a silver lining for us because we wereable to get a lot of new computers using federal and state moniesto help people connect and get FEMA assistance,” Ledet said. “Thatwas a wonderful thing because we were able to replace our agingcomputers.”

The library director believes he would be able to establish arotating schedule to replace computers should the increase beapproved.

The Brookhaven system’s book budget, at $84,000, is in themid-range of budgets at libraries of similar size, according toMississippi Library Commission statistics.

“I would like to see it at $100,000,” Ledet said.

At $100,000, the Brookhaven system would rank second in bookbudget among the six libraries in its class, according to thestatistics.

In the past five years, Ledet said, the library has been able tosupplement the budget with grants, but did not obtain any thisyear.

Ledet is also quick to point out, however, that the county hasbeen very supportive of the library. The county added the libraryto a 1999 bond bill for the jail to provide $500,000 in a total$1.2 million project to renovate the library. The project wascompleted in 2004.

The increase would also be used to provide a pay raise tolibrary employees, he said.

“We have people making minimum wage that have worked at minimumwage for five years – and they’re good workers,” Ledet said. “Theywork hard and deserve more pay.”

He said he is proposing a pay increase of 5 percent.

“I would like to see them get a much bigger raise, but to hopefor more than that is probably unrealistic,” Ledet said.

The library director said employee pay should reflect thereputation of the library.

“We’re not a mid-range library. We want to be at the top. Wejust need to have enough operating funds to live up to the buildingprovided by the elected officials and the taxpayers,” he said.”We’re very proud of our library service. I think we comparefavorably with libraries all across the state.”

The library’s reputation is also well-earned, he said. As anexample, he points to a Smithsonian exhibit the library displayedin January.

“That’s not just a wonderful thing for our county, but it’saffirmation of the reputation of the library,” Ledet said. “Noteveryone can host a Smithsonian exhibit.”

Don Hollis, who said he visits the library at least once a week,praised the library.

“For its size and where we’re at, I think it’s real top-notch,”he said.

Hollis said he would support an increase of funding to thelibrary.

The county’s increase of $35,000 would be equivalent to devotingone mill in property taxes to the library, a move Ledet recommends.By devoting a mill to the library, the county’s appropriation wouldnaturally increase each year as the county’s property taxesappreciate in value, he said.

“If we could get a small increase each year, we wouldn’t need toask for these big increases because we wouldn’t be falling furtherbehind each year,” he said.

Lincoln County would not be breaking new ground by reserving amill for library use, Ledet said. Lawrence County presently hasslightly more than a mill devoted to library services.