Minutes (Summary) - 20091130 - AOG

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some of the Internet access, and the utilities; so he thought when they calculate Carrboro's support, the documents should reflect that. He said he was on the Carrboro library work group which looked at Carrboro's and the southwest needs, (he passed around a reference to a 1989 document). He said Jake Wicker, with the Institute of Government, did what was called a tax equity in the financing of local government in the Orange County study. He said it showed how at least 20 years ago, there was an inequity in how county taxes were allocated in terms of delivery of services, and the people in Chapel Hill got more for their dollar than they paid, and the people in Carrboro got less for their dollar, and the people in unincorporated areas were actually subsidizing those two municipalities. Commissioner Jacobs said he had no clue how that fits in with 2009, but, he would suggest there was a lot of interconnection here, and it goes between services. He said he would suggest they were taking one service here in isolation, and trying to come up with a equity formula. He said he believed there was a larger equity issue; and while he was very comfortable trying to help Chapel Hill address its capital needs regarding libraries, and an equitable way for Orange County to address its responsibility for libraries for all citizens, they have time to put it into larger context. He said the County also pays for things that the towns use, but don't pay for court facilities, animal control and shelter, etc. He said he would like to suggest that they ask the School of Government to look at this very issue, and see if they can come up with some kind of equity formula. Council Member Czajkowski said it's one thing to look at the number of registered patrons per location, but what about usage per location; because for him that is a much more significant number. He asked if it was possible to get that information from their system. Alderman Broun asked for more clarity on what they mean by usage. Ms. Thompson said she did not believe their automated systems have the ability to track the circulation by geographic area other than on a daily basis; so that they could run a series of reports, do snapshots, and do an average; both of their systems could do that, but they could not tabulate those uses like they do the total circulation. Council Member Czajkowski said to answer Alderman Broun's question, someone who checks out a book is a user. He said that the information about usage per location would be enormously helpful. Ms. Thompson said they both could do snapshots of time, and then find an average. She said the usage correlates with the number of registered patrons. She said a registered user is someone who has applied for and received a library card. Council Member Easthom asked Mayor Foy to clarify what the Town of Chapel Hill's time-frame was to make a decision; he had said in the next couple of months, but that is an amazing decision to make for $26 million. She said there is a lot of information and discussion needed.