Commissioners press for more Floral City library hours; staff say fund balance may cover expansion

Commissioner Rebecca Bays told the board that "for the past year, the people in Homosassa have been asking for the additional hours at the library," and asked whether a rollback could force other districts to give up hours to provide service for Floral City. She asked, "who wants to give up their library hours in their district to give to Floral City?"

1st Vice Chair Janet Barrick responded that volunteers keep some costs down and said, "Floral City does deserve more hours," but she also said she was "still in between" on the requested amounts. After public comment produced no speakers, a board member reported staff had looked at the library fund balance and new growth funds and said, "I think there's enough there to be able to come up with something for Floral City," and that staff would bring a plan back to the board.

The board did not adopt any reallocation of hours during the hearing; staff committed to return with a proposal if the fund balance can be used to expand service hours.