On the job for a year as the executive director of the Jackson-Hinds Library System, Jeanne Williams has spent hours studying the system’s financial records.
“My favorite part of the work I do is finance, budgets,” she said.
Williams told members of the Jackson City Council Planning and Economic Development Committee on May 14 that she completed “a pretty deep study into the financial history of the library system.”
She examined audits going back about 25 years and discovered the system’s spending exceeded its revenue by amounts ranging from $100,000 to $300,000 during some of those years.
The system operates 12 branches, five of which are in Jackson and seven of which are in Hinds County (Bolton, Byram, Clinton, Edwards, Raymond, Terry and Utica). The system employs 60 people.
During the time period Williams studied, the system operated three more branches: the Eudora Welty Library in downtown, which has since been torn down; the Tisdale Library, which has also been demolished; and the Richard Wright Library, which was closed after being vandalized.
For “several years in a row” when the system overspent, it used the funds kept in reserve for emergencies to make up the amount it exceeded the revenue, Williams said. The closure of the Richard Wright Library helped the system build the reserve funds back because it no longer had to staff the branch and provide services, she said.
The global pandemic proved to be a financial godsend for the system because expenses declined and expenditures were lower than usual due to reduced usage, which provided some wiggle room in the budget. “The pandemic essentially saved us,” she said.
The city and Hinds County provide the buildings for the branches, and the system handles the library functions. By law, the city and county must maintain the buildings they own that serve as library branches.
“We have quantity, but we can’t reinvest to do more than the bare minimum with the libraries we have,” Williams said.
Five of the branches have roof leaks. Another one has black mold, and another one is waiting for the city to work out the details of installing a new chiller.
Most library systems running on a $4 million budget are operating half the number of branches of what the Jackson-Hinds Library System has, she said. Library systems with 10 to 12 branches operate on $10 million to $12 million a year, she said.
“Our funding doesn’t match the size of our system,” she said. “A system this size would run on twice the amount of money. When I start to hint at that, the answer I get is, ‘You’ve closed these branches and you could be flush with cash.’”
Williams expects the system to face a fiscal problem next year if its funding remains the same. She first raised that issue during her budget presentation to the entire council last year, yet council members still talk about the need to open additional branches.
City leaders have expressed interest in a branch that would replace the Tisdale Library and would be located at the former Chastain Middle School, which is now owned by Redeemer Church and The Redeemer’s School.
Williams said no one has contacted her from the city to discuss anything about the possible branch.
She estimates the costs to replace the Tisdale Branch, which was torn down in 2023 after storm-related flooding resulted in black mold growing inside, would be $130,000 annually for staff; $150,000, opening collection; $8,000, equipment; furniture, $500,000; and the cost of the facility, which is to be determined.
Back in 2002, the system’s $4 million budget, adjusted for inflation, represented $6 million purchasing power, she said. But that’s no longer true.
“Our purchasing power has gone down,” she said. “Our funding has been either stagnant or declining. Our state grants have declined significantly. Federal funding coming through the Mississippi is down. We are up against quite a bit of financial pressure.”
Hinds County has reduced its funding to use over time, she said, noting a 1986 agreement that states equal funding from both the city and the county would fund the system.
“The city provides 48 percent of our total operating budget and Hinds County, 35 percent,” she said.
The Hinds County Board of Supervisors reduced the funding for the library system’s 2026 budget by $125,395 and the Jackson City Council did the same by $37,630. Williams said she dealt with that reduction by consolidating some things.
Williams plans to educate members of the library system’s board of trustee finance committee about the system’s finances and then the full board.
She is evaluating the locations of the current branches, comparing that to population data and mapping out reasonable drive times to the branches.
“This library system was built for a very different Jackson and very different Hinds County,” she said. “We’re not the only agency in the county and the city looking at these same agencies. Everyone has lost tax base and population has shifted.”
Innovations such as the system’s new bookmobile, which can be deployed as needed, can be helpful, she said.
“You have to look at innovative service models where bricks and mortar may not make sense anymore,” she said, naming self-serve systems like Amazon lockers or vending machines as examples.
“It’s not feasible for every community to be served in the same way because community needs are different,” Williams said.
Ashby Foote, who represents Ward 1 on the council, agrees that innovative solutions could be useful.
“People don’t go to the library to read magazines and newspapers and books like they once did because everyone has a smart phone,” he said. “We’ve got to take advantage of technology and find new ways to deliver services.”
Changing the footprint of the system would require city and county leaders to make difficult decisions.
“The (library system) board can let the county know this is the reality of our funding situation, but you wouldn’t expect them to make those final decisions,” she said.
Williams said she recognizes the city and county “are hurting” and that they have to provide for law enforcement and other services, but she expects they will have to make hard decisions about the library system.
