City taxpayers will be paying more for Marigold Library Systems services, beginning January 1.
Marigold director Michelle Toombs told city council her organization will be raising its per capita fees for municipalities in the next three consecutive years.
The rates will jump from $4.70 per capita today, to $4.90 in 2012, $5.25 in 2013 and $5.60 in 2014.
These rates have not increased since 2007, said Toombs.
The Marigold system currently serves 234,000 people not including Calgary. The coverage area spans south central Alberta, from the B.C. border to Saskatchewan’s and from Consort in the northeast to Longview in the southwest.
“The growth in population is a significant factor,” said Toombs.
Total funding to Marigold has increased as population has grown steadily, however, the total number of system users has increased at a faster rate, doubling since 2005.
“Airdrie contributed a great number of those numbers to us,” said Toombs. “They’re passionate about their library system.”
The increased per capita fees are the price of doing business, said to Janine Jevne, Airdrie Public Library director.
“[Levies] haven’t gone up for so long,” said Jevne.
“They’ve doubled the number of people they serve, but they’ve also increased their service.
“Our library has moved from clay tablets to the information age in a very short period of time,” said Jevne.
Since joining, Airdrie has provided about $350,000 to MLS and received roughly $560,000 in services, according to Toombs.
In addition to the per capita fees, Airdrie’s library board pays a flat rate of $4.50 per capita. That fee will not increase in the foreseeable future, said Toombs.
Council accepted her report as information.
For more information on the system, visit www.marigold.ab.ca
