Parish library system raises out-of-parish member fees

By Chad Ruiz
St. Tammany News
Published on Friday, May 30, 2008 9:36 AM CDT

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Beginning Sept. 1, out of parish members of the St. Tammany Parish Library will have to pay $30 annually to continue using the library’s many branches.

The increase is long overdue, Assistant Director Donald Westmoreland said.

Library officials began talks of increasing the current $15 charge for non-residents before Hurricane Katrina, but after the storm the issue was shoved to the back burner until the Library Board of Control meeting recently approved the raise.

Westmoreland said this brings the library’s average support up from its current $19 per capita more in line with the state average of $28 per capita. The averages are based on the dollar amount spent per individual on their library through mills and other taxes.

“Thirty dollars isn’t a huge amount of money, and it’s not a big money maker for us,” Westmoreland said.

He said one of the library’s intent is to encourage surrounding communities to invest more in their own library systems.

“Parishes around us average $10 to $11 per capita,” he said, adding the total out of parish members currently enrolled at the library is nearing 1,000 people who frequent one of the 13 branches from as far away as Mississippi.

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