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Final Chapter For Trinity Library Saga?

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: June 25, 2008

TRINITY - While a long-delayed fire station is under construction in Trinity, county officials pretty much have closed the book on building a Trinity library branch anytime soon.

A library project in the booming area of Trinity looked like it might take off in 2005 with a state grant for more than $430,000. At one time there was talk of co-locating a Trinity fire station with a library and passive park, Dan Johnson, Pasco's assistant county administrator for public services, recalled.

But then-Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed the state grant and the Trinity library project went on the back burner.

Fast forward to today: the county is a facing budget crunch because of declining tax revenue, so the idea for a Trinity library branch isn't even on the back burner any longer.

Even if the county had the money to build a library branch in the Trinity area, it couldn't afford to staff it, according to a county official.

In an interview in March, Rich Balkcom, the owner of an area financial services firm, said a Trinity park and library branch were ideas that have been floating around for several years.

"When both of these are a reality," Balkcom said in the interview, "then we will be on our way to a true town center offering all aspects of family life."

"It becomes a quality of life issue," Jay B. "Trey" Starkey III, the co-developer of the Longleaf community, said in another March interview. "You can't have nothing but houses and strip centers."

Trinity-area residents must go to Holiday for recreation or libraries, noted Starkey, who frequently travels the 11 miles from his house to the Holiday Recreation Complex where his children play soccer.

"We're just not in the financial situation where you can have a library in walking distance like a small village," Commissioner Ann Hildebrand remarked. She represents the Trinity district.

Not long ago, Hildebrand did get an irate phone call from a Trinity-area woman. "She was just appalled" she had to travel to the Centennial Park Library Branch Library, on Moog Road in Holiday.

In May, the seven existing branches started closing an hour earlier on week nights, for instance, to trim utility bills for libraries by about $10,000 and save another $43,000 with reduction in staff hours.

Plus a hiring freeze affects libraries like all other county departments.

"What we have is pretty good," Hildebrand said about the library system. She cited the Pasco system earned the 2008 Library of the Year Award from the Florida Library Association in April.

With today's tight budgets, even if the county can find the money to build a library, the county might not have the funds to staff it and operate it, Johnson explained.

In 2005, the construction cost for a Trinity library had been estimated at about $3.9 million, according to county files. Pasco started charging a library impact fee on new homes in 2002, which is restricted to construction projects.

However, at least another $2.5 million - estimated in 2005 dollars - would be needed to equip a Trinity library and stock it with books. That doesn't even count staff salaries, utilities and other operating expenses.

"With Amendment 1, we're not enhancing services at this time," said Dan Johnson, Pasco's assistant county administrator for public services. He was referring to property tax reforms voters passed Jan. 29, which will reduce revenue to counties.

"We do not have the property taxes to operate them," Johnson said about additional facilities such as libraries. Impact fees by law can't be used for operating expenses.

Carl Orth can be reached at 727-815-1068 or corth@suncoastnews.com.

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