Library Cost Comparison

Spend a few minutes reading the Douglas and Josephine County Library budgets, which run about three pages each, and compare them to the Jackson County Library budget, which runs to thirty pages of mostly blather with fewer pertinent facts. If you want the raw numbers I've condensed them here.

But one little table on page seven especially caught my eye. It purports to demonstrate, I suppose, that Jackson County's libraries are neither the least nor the most expensive in the state. Closer inspection reveals much more.

Consider our next-door neighbors Josephine, Klamath, and Douglas County. (Call them, collectively, JKD.)

These numbers are from 2004-05 but even then Jackson County spent $7.5 million on its libraries as compared to $5.2 million for JKD. Yet JKD have 26 branches to Jackson's 15. And JKD serve 250 thousand citizens to Jackson's 195 thousand.

Why is it that Jackson County's libraries cost so much more?

Jackson County's libraries cost $39.16 per capita per year while the Josephine, Klamath, and Douglas libraries combined cost barely half as much ($20.77 per capita).