Jackson libraries get $1.9 million from the city. See how the money will be used

Charlie Drape, Mississippi Clarion-Ledger
·3 min read
A faded Jackson-Hinds Library System sign for its main library sits at the corner of State and Mississippi Street in Jackson, Sept. 12, 2023. According to the Eudora Welty Library webpage, last updated Sept. 14, 2021, the flagship library is closed until further notice.
A faded Jackson-Hinds Library System sign for its main library sits at the corner of State and Mississippi Street in Jackson, Sept. 12, 2023. According to the Eudora Welty Library webpage, last updated Sept. 14, 2021, the flagship library is closed until further notice.

The Jackson/Hinds Library System is getting $1.9 million after the Jackson City Council unanimously approved the funding during a special meeting Wednesday.

The city is keeping a portion, about $113,000, of the $1.9 million to pay the rent for Willie Morris Library, as well as $6,000 to repair maintenance issues. The rest of the $1.9 million will not be used to fix various maintenance issues at the city's other libraries, officials said.

Outstanding maintenance issues not included in the funding are as follows:

  • Medgar Evers Library has been closed since July due to a broken air-conditioning system that made the facility unworkable in the summer due to the higher temperatures.

  • Richard Wright Library has been closed since 2020 due to needed plumbing repairs at the facility.

  • Fannie Lou Hamer Library has leak issues, but is open to the public.

The $1.9 million was set aside from revenue the city earned from last year's millage rate, officials said.

Each year part of the revenue earned from the millage rate, which is a figure used by government entities to calculate property taxes, is used to help fund the Jackson/Hinds Library System. Hinds County also helps with funding since it is a shared system.

Fidelis Malembeka, Jackson's chief financial officer, did not immediately have the amount the county will be funding this year, but said last year the county paid a little over $1.5 million.

"When you look at the city's millage we do break it down by general fund, parks and recreation, bonded interest fund, disability and relief fund, and we also have the library," Malembeka said.

Though the Willie Morris Library's rent will be paid, other maintenance issues still plague the library. A leaky pipe that eventually burst flooded the library back in January. The water was cleared quickly so no issues with mold resulted, but new carpet must be installed and the bathroom where the pipe burst also needs repairs.

Peyton Smith, chairman of the JHLS board of trustees, previously said the issues at the library do "not present in a way that we think is acceptable and the service we're able to provide is limited," and discussions about when the repairs will be made with the city are ongoing.

Malembeka said the city and JHLS are working to determine how much those repairs and others will cost, and they are currently receiving quotes. Malembeka could not provide a timeline on when those costs would be given.

"We talked yesterday about work we're doing at Medgar Evers Library and one of the other libraries," Malembeka said. "That is coming out of the city's maintenance funds. We're still getting quotes, so we have not rounded up the numbers yet."

In other matters at Wednesday's special Council meeting:

The Council voted to approve spending a little over $500,000 to purchase 13 new, all-wheel-drive vehicles for the Jackson Police Department. Chief of Police Joseph Wade told the Council the vehicles were badly needed since the end of the COVID-19 Pandemic as others are slowly deteriorating.

Currently, the police department has almost 180 vehicles in the fleet with 238 officers on staff. Wade said in a "dream world" each officer would have their own vehicle.

The city is able to use money from this past fiscal year that wasn't used by the department to pay for five of the vehicles. For the remaining eight vehicles, the city is using money from the city's fund balance or "rainy day" fund.

After purchasing the vehicles, the city's "rainy day" fund will be approximately $2.4 million for the next fiscal year. This amount is "not enough now," said Ward 6 Councilman and Council President Aaron Banks.

"We have other matters that we can't talk about that we got to deal with," Banks said during the meeting.

One idea that was suggested during the meeting was a city-wide auction of police gear. Deputy Chief Vincent Grizzell estimated the auction could bring in "a surplus of $6 million."

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson MS City Council votes to fund $1.9 million to libraries