Northport Votes to Give Tuscaloosa Library Extra $100,000 After Threat to Cut Services

The Northport City Council begrudgingly voted on Monday to give an extra $100,000 to the Tuscaloosa Public Library after its board voted last month to cut some online services to citizens there.

As the Thread previously reported, the Library said in a press release that funding from Northport lags behind what they receive from the city of Tuscaloosa and the county commission. After failing to negotiate better terms with the city, the TPL board voted to suspend access to its most popular digital offerings - Overdrive and Libby - to those who live in Northport. That would have happened on March 3rd.

They also said they would remove a library book vending machine from the Northport Civic Center.

On Monday, during their regular meeting, the city council clearly expressed disappointment at how things were handled, especially given their contributions to the library, which far exceed those of past city councils.

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"The city of Northport has provided nearly $1.2 million in funding to the Library over past five years since this council was elected, including over $900,000 in expense and capital funding since I joined the council in 2023," Councilman Karl Wiggins said. "This compares to an average spending of less than $50,000 annually from Northport in the 15 years before this council was elected."

Wiggins said TPL did not give the city enough time to consider giving more than what was allotted during budget negotiations last fall before TPL "leaked" their plans to rescind services to the media.

Wiggins even suggested that legal counsel for the city said the move to cut back services could have been against the law.

"I am truly appalled and disappointed that the library board has seen fit to target Northport citizens when this council has done its best to rectify the funding sins of the past. I am further disappointed that other individuals have tried to use this as an opportunity to make political hay or generate online clickbait," Wiggins said. "Despite my misgivings, however, I think that we have no choice but to bow to the threats of the library board in order to protect the services that Northport citizens rely on and deserve.

Ultimately, Wiggins introduced a resolution to give TPL an additional $101,455, on top of the $186,000 Northport already gave the organization in annual agency funding. The resolution, which comes with a requirement that the online services be left intact, passed 4-1. Councilman Woodrow Washington voted no, saying that capitulating to pressure to fund outside agencies could jeopardize giving raises to city staff, which the council has been able to do consistently.

"I don't appreciate the library board for this because I know for a fact this council has worked their butt off to provide more money to them," Washington said. "For them to ask for this amount of money after we've given them for when they needed a roof, when they needed mold removal - it would be different if we didn't offer them that at the time, but $1.2 million, that's a lot. That's over $250,000 a year."

The other four members of the council voted for the amended funding resolution, although Councilman Anwar Aiken and President Christy Bobo also condemned the way they were pressured to do it.

For more coverage of the situation as it continues to develop, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.