Georgia lags the country in funding for its public libraries, and northwest Georgia lags behind the rest of the state, according to supporters of the Dalton-Whitfield County Public Library.

On December 7, several library supporters attended Whitfield County’s first public hearing on the 2022 budget proposal to ask the county council of commissioners to increase funding for the library.

The library is part of and is the home of the Northwest Georgia Regional Library System, which also includes the Chatsworth-Murray County Public Library and the Calhoun-Gordon County Public Library.

According to data provided by the Georgia Public Library Service, Georgia ranked 47th in the country for local library funding, averaging $ 16.74 per capita in 2020.

For the Northwest Georgia Regional Library System, local per capita funding was $ 6.63, less than half the state average, in 2020.

In comparison, the local per capita funding for the Catoosa County Library in 2020 was $ 8.52. And the local per capita funding for the Cherokee Regional Library System – which includes the Chickamauga Public Library, Dade County Public Library, LaFayette-Walker County Library, and Rossville Public Library – was 10.66 $ in 2020. The Sequoyah Regional Library System – which includes Cherokee, Gilmer, and Pickens County Libraries – had local funding of $ 11.67 per capita in 2020.

Patricia Edwards, who said she was a neighbor and a supporter of the library, urged commissioners to do more to support the library.

“An educated and skilled workforce is vital to our local economy,” she said. “The library can play a key role in helping our citizens develop the education and skills they need.

She said the library salary was way behind the private sector.

“I have spoken to people who would like to work in the library,” she said. “But they say they have to support a family. They can make $ 18 an hour in Mohawk or $ 10 or 11 an hour at the library.”

Edwards said the library does not have enough staff to stay open during lunch time.

Council of Commissioners chairman Jevin Jensen noted that the county has invested millions of dollars in the library over the years from sales tax revenues.

A special 2020 sales tax provides $ 1.2 million to the Dalton-Whitfield County Public Library, which will release an additional $ 2 million from the state. The library will use this money to, among other things, add 1,500 square feet and renovate an additional 1,500 square feet of the 33,648 square foot building.

A 2015 special sales tax contained $ 500,000, along with $ 1.7 million in state library building grants, which were used to put a new roof on the library.

Jensen said increasing the library’s operating funds is “complicated” for two reasons.

First, he noted that the library is not funded only by the county, but also by local school systems and cities.

According to the Northwest Georgia Regional Library System, in fiscal 2021, Whitfield County provided funding of $ 304,275; the Town of Dalton, $ 259,900; Cohutta, $ 750; Tunnel Hill, $ 1,000; Varnell, $ 3,000; Dalton Public Schools, $ 5,000; and Whitfield County Schools, $ 1,000.

Dalton Mayor David Pennington has said he would be reluctant for the city to increase funding for libraries unless the county does too.

“In most places the county funds the library,” he said.