The Albany County Library received an emergency infusion of over $100,000 this week.
That money was allocated by the Albany County Commissioners to help the library cover a budget deficit of around $70,000 dollars for this fiscal year.
“We would have had to completely gut the programming and materials. No more programming and materials for the year,” says library manager Joey Dingess. “To be quite honest, we wouldn’t be able to pay our bills the rest of the year.”
The Albany County Library has struggled with funding issues in the past: its budget is much smaller than the libraries in other Wyoming counties like Fremont or Sheridan, but it serves a comparable number of people.
Dingess says he hopes to keep the library within its budget in the future, but that greater annual funding from the County is needed to maintain the services the library currently provides.