Facing a projected budget shortfall, Mendocino County library officials have announced cuts to several digital services in an effort to balance next year’s operating budget without laying off staff.
County Librarian Mellisa Hannum said the cuts are a response to overly optimistic estimates of sales tax revenue, which funds the library system.
“We discovered there was quite a deficit between what we thought we could afford and the reality,” Hannum said. “I really soul-searched about it, and ultimately decided that the best course of action was to cut some of our digital resources.”
Effective July 1, the library will discontinue Hoopla, a digital download service for ebooks and audiobooks, as well as streaming and educational platforms including Kanopy, GrantFinder, Pronunciator, ProCitizen, and Kovels. Hannum said the lightly used services will save the library nearly $41,000.
Some programs had just a handful of users. Pronunciator, a language-learning platform, served only 77 people over the past year, with usage dropping to near zero in recent months. GrantFinder was used by just 40 individuals.
“I don’t think the cuts will negatively impact our patrons too much,” Hannam said, noting that more popular services such as OverDrive (Libby), interlibrary loan, the “Lunch at the Library” program, and virtual author talks—including an upcoming conversation with bestselling author Judy Blume—will continue.
In other county news, a long-delayed federal feasibility study to raise the Coyote Valley Dam by 36 feet is once again underway, thanks to a partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians, who have pledged to match $500,000 in federal funding secured by Rep. Jared Huffman.
Janet Pauli, chair of the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, said the study has been two decades in the making. While the dam was built in the 1950s for flood control, it now serves as a vital water source for the region—albeit with limited storage capacity.
“In 2005, we went to the Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the idea of a feasibility study to raise Coyote Valley Dam,” said Janet Pauli, chair of the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission. “That project had actually been authorized by Congress decades earlier, as part of a broader flood control effort that included the construction of both Coyote Valley and Warm Springs dams.”
Although the Corps completed the original dam projects, a plan to return and raise Coyote Valley Dam was never realized. A preliminary reconnaissance study in 2005 determined the timing was right to revisit the plan, and local officials began the feasibility process.
“We got about three years down the road,” Pauli said, “and then the Corps had to shift its focus to urgent issues on the Mississippi River and other hurricane-impacted areas.”
Now, with renewed local and federal support, the effort is officially back underway. A signing ceremony held May 11 marked a new partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and two sponsors: the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission and the Lytton Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians.
The new feasibility study is expected to cost $3 million and take about three years, though Pauli warned that timeline may be optimistic.
