Geographic restrictions at the county level?

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by gracie

Are city libraries supported exclusively by some form of city tax? Or do they get money from counties and the state and the feds? How about counties? Do their libraries operate EXCLUSIVELY on some form of county property tax or do they get state or federal money? The whole thing seems incredibly stupid to me, but if say, a county library system is SOLELY SUPPORTED by taxes or other funds collected EXCLUSIVELY WITHIN THE COUNTY, I can see where such a provincial attitude would come from... So, does anyone know how the library system here in the US works?

I think that's typical, although it might not be universal. My library (a combined city/county library) gets 80% of its funding from property taxes, 11% of its funding from other city or county taxes, 5% of its funding from fees, and 3% of it's funding from "miscellaneous." (It only adds up to 99%, presumably rounding). So 96-97% of its funding comes from within the county. "Miscellaneous" could include state or federal money - perhaps a literacy grant or something - but if so, it's pretty minimal.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by gracie

>In fact, your federal taxes are all being spent in Alabama...

I don't understand that part of the statement... Why are all my taxes going to Alabama?

It was just an offhand example. You're in Minnesota, and in the example if 100% of the money you paid in federal taxes was tracked to being spent somewhere else, such as alabama, that doesn't mean that you now have rights to stuff in Alabama. You live in Minnesota, and regardless of where your tax money goes, you're only entitled to benefits in your locale.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

Libraries are funded by local taxes. It all comes down to a lack of funding for local libraries. As a result they are restricting access to only those people who are paying the local taxes. I can't say that I blame them.

Some libraries are tax funded.
Ours runs off of donations and fundraisers.
We restrict to locals who come in in person and apply for a library card.

[SleepyBob]

Originally Posted by gracie

>In fact, your federal taxes are all being spent in Alabama...

I don't understand that part of the statement... Why are all my taxes going to Alabama?

Money is fungible. A dollar is a dollar, no matter where it came from. Therefore it is just as correct to claim that the money you paid in Federal Income Taxes was used exclusively to pay soldiers' salaries in Kosovo, as it is to say it was used to build roads in Alabama.

When Grandma sent you $100 for Christmas, you sent her a nice note saying, "Dear Grandma. Thank you for the money. I used it to buy matching outfits for your Grandkids." That's a nice note, but in reality, it's just as accurate for you to write, "Dear Grandma. Thank you for the money. I used it to buy lots of porn. Since I no longer had to spend my own money on my porn addiction, I treated my kids to matching outfits."

[gracie]

Ah, I think I get it now... Here in MN, it's like building light rail lines to nowhere... They take massive amounts of state money, and supplement it with incredible amounts of federal money, build a train that requires constant subsidies to support the miniscule number of people that ride it, and claim it's a PUBLIC GOOD!

Or the "sane (or Lexus) lanes". They take massive amounts of state and federal money and build new lanes on the expressways, then set aside a third of them, and claim that only CERTAIN people can use them... So, they sit largely idle during rush hour while all the other lanes are at a standstill, and that's another "PUBLIC GOOD"!

So, as demand increases, the balkanization will escalate and every county or city library system will demand that only THEIR select group use the resources.

Makes sense now.