County considers merging library cards

County officials entertained the idea of increasing cooperation between the county’s two library systems at their Tuesday meeting.

The Orange County Board of Commissioners discussed a solution to the libraries’ funding conflict that would involve residents using a single library card for both systems.

Chapel Hill residents pay the taxes for the town’s library, but 40 percent of the library’s users live outside the town and don’t pay taxes for it.

“The Chapel Hill library gets a contribution from Orange County, and as a result, all residents of Orange County are entitled to a Chapel Hill library card free of additional charge,” commissioner Steve Yuhasz said.

The county provides $250,000 annually to the Chapel Hill library, a contribution totaling about 11 percent of the library’s growing budget.

But the county has its own library system to mind, and board members have not decided how to balance the funding.

Yuhasz said he is an advocate of implementing a single-card system, which would mean that card holders of both the Orange County Public Library and Chapel Hill Public Library could use the same facilities.

The Chapel Hill library is set to expand this summer, but some commissioners said they would rather fund the improvement of the county system.

“There’s a feeling on the part of Chapel Hill that they have a higher level of service, and I think Orange County wants a higher level of service,” said commissioner Bernadette Pelissier.

The commissioners said an agreement between Chapel Hill and Orange County should be reached soon.

“We need an agreement that works for everybody, that serves the most citizens and that protects our money,” said commissioner Barry Jacobs.



Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.