The new library is being funded with $2 million in state funds and $3.1 million in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax dollars, according to Susan White, director of the Sequoyah Regional Library. White told the Cherokee County Library Board of Trustees during its meeting last Thursday that it may cost around $800,000 to stock the library.
The proposed name for the new library is the Lathemtown Public Library, but no action has been taken yet by the board.
A little over $335,000 could be used from county impact fee revenue to purchase adult and young adult materials, but the board would have to come up with the remainder of the funds to get the other materials, including children’s books and audiobooks, she said. White said library staff came to that conclusion by comparing the proposed library to that of the size of Woodstock Public Library.
The library will be about 18,000 square feet and will be equipped with laptops, a room for teenagers and a children’s storytime area.
She also said there will be self-checkouts and a drive-by book drop.
“(Library patrons) will love that,” she said.
White said the library board will begin funding the operations a year before the facility opens.
The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners could consider approval of the purchase agreement for the library during its meeting on May 1, said County Manager Jerry Cooper.
The board voted in February to pursue purchasing property along Highway 20 east of Macedonia for the new library.
The library was originally slated to be built on a parcel within the proposed East Park project.
East Park is roughly 149 acres along Highway 20/Cumming Highway at Jack Page Lane and Water Tank Road. The park will be funded with parks bond proceeds.
The new property is 6.15 acres and sits on Highway 20 near Old Mill Road, about four miles east of where the library was originally to be built.
The library board also reviewed its fiscal year 2013 budget last week. The library budget for the upcoming year is set at $2.9 million, down from the 2012 budget of $3 million.
White said the new budget is barebones and does not contain any extra bells and whistles.
No layoffs or furloughs will be included in the proposed budget, as well as no adjustment to library hours or staff allotments.
The Cherokee trustees’ budget will be considered by the Sequoyah Regional Library Board meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Pickens County Library in Jasper.
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