How is the Minerva Public Library Funded?

The Library receives almost all of its funds, around 98% of its revenue, from the State of Ohio in the form of a portion of the Public Library Fund (PLF).  The PLF receives money according to a formula described in law, rather than as an appropriation by the legislature.  The PLF is currently funded by 1.7% of the state’s General Revenue Fund (GRF); the GRF is supplied mostly by the income and sales taxes, with some additional revenue from various use taxes and fees.  The State allocates PLF money to each county based on a distribution formula established in the 1980s, and then the County Budget Commission in each county divides up the money among the various libraries in that county based on locally agreed upon methods. Thus, the PLF funds library service to all Ohioans, but does not fund any particular public library directly.  The service area of Minerva Public Library is described by the boundaries of the Minerva Local School District and includes portions of Carroll, Columbiana, and Stark Counties; therefore the library receives PLF money from three counties.

In each of the three counties, PLF money is divided among the libraries in that county using different criteria.  In Carroll County there was a long-standing agreement that the PLF money was divided respectively between Carroll County District Library, Minerva Public Library, and Bowerstown Public Library in a 70%-20%-10% split; this formula was unilaterally altered by the Carroll County Budget Commission in August, 2017.  CCDL now receives 75%, MPL 15%, and BPL 10%.   For over the past 20 years, Minerva PL has received 0.456% percent of Columbiana County’s PLF distribution.

In Stark County there are seven public libraries, of which the largest by far is Stark County District Library. The was a distribution formula  first agreed to by representatives of the seven libraries in the mid-1980s and was first used to allocate the County’s library money for the 1987 distribution year.  After much discussion, the formula was revised in the fall of 2012.  In January of 2020, the Directors of the seven libraries met to review the formula and discuss another revision.  They agreed to the freeze the percentage division of the Stark County PLF for five years beginning with the 2021 distribution. Each library's share was calculated by averaging several previous year's distribution percentages.  Minerva's current share of the county's PLF is 3.96610902%. 

Updated February, 2023