Patrons of the Effingham County libraries are trying to muster support to stave off expected budget cuts from the county commissioners.

Sharon Hamilton has begun a petition drive, pleading with the commissioners to restore the funding for Live Oak Public Library System’s two branches in Effingham. She has 17 copies of the petition circulating and has collected more than 500 signatures, she said Wednesday. The original petition list has been filled up.

“I’ve been quite surprised,” she said of the reception her petition is getting. “Everybody’s been more than happy to give their signature.”

She also noted the increased traffic at the Rincon and Springfield branches — visits were up 22.8 percent from 2006-09 and computer usage rose by more than 53 percent in the same span. In anticipation of the budget reductions, hours at both branches are being cut by nearly 45 percent.

“It is busy over there,” Hamilton said of the Rincon branch library. “It’s hard to get a parking space sometimes.”

Hamilton goes to the library at least once a week, and she and her husband have begun using the library to check out DVDs instead of going to a video store.

“I suggested, ‘let’s go to the library and see what we could check out first,’” she said. “A lot of people are thinking that way because they’re tightening their belts.”

Hamilton began her petition drive May 20, a day after receiving an e-mail from the library system about the proposed budget cuts.

Commissioners have proposed cutting the library’s funding by 10 percent, reducing the funding from $316,000 this fiscal year to $284,450 for the coming fiscal year.

Commissioners asked for a 10 percent cut from all departments in putting together their FY11 budget. Chairman Dusty Zeigler said that though the library isn’t a county department, it is funded partially by the county.

“It’s funded by the county, but it’s not run by the county. We don’t know what their performance standards are, what their employees do,” he said. “I think it’s completely wrong not to have a plan.”

Zeigler also said it’s incumbent upon the commissioners to examine each budget item.

“That’s the duty of the commissioners, to be persnickety about the budget,” he said. “We should question every budget item.”

The Effingham County Board of Education is reducing its funding of the libraries by 50 percent, slashing its funding from $360,000 to $180,000. Combined, the cuts from the county and the school board will lop off 35 percent of the libraries’ funding.

Zeigler said people want to support the library but few have any indication how it is funded. In years past, he said, it was funded completely by the school board.

Commissioners are scheduled to adopt their FY11 budget at their June 15 meeting. Hamilton hopes to address the board of commissioners at that meeting, with the petitions in hand.

“I really feel like the county should fund the library at the level the school board did,” Hamilton said. “I don’t understand the thought process of the commissioners.”

Hamilton doesn’t think the school board needs to shoulder any of the libraries’ financial burden.

“We need to rearrange the funding for the libraries,” she said. “They should not have anything to do with the school board; they have enough problems of their own. The county should fund the libraries entirely. Chatham County should be our model for that. They don’t seem to have any problems over there. They have a fantastic library system. They just opened a new one on the Southside. The best thing the Effingham libraries have going for us is we can pull resources from them.”

Hamilton said she’s spoken with 5th District commissioner candidate Phil Kieffer, who has given his support to her petition.

“I’m happy he’s going to try to help us,” she said.

She also the One Stop Center, operated by the Coastal Workforce Investment Board, isn’t really a duplication of services since it’s only open two days a week. Jobseekers can apply for jobs online and put together resumes there, activities that for the most part have been conducted the two library branches.

“This is something the library’s been doing all along,” she said.

According to Brian Davis of the Statesboro One Stop Center, the Effingham One Stop has averaged 15 customers a day, and its hours of operation could be extended based on its traffic.

In her petition, Hamilton also cited the county’s mission statement of providing “a high quality of life” to Effingham residents. Her petition states that reducing the existing budget for the libraries would be counter productive and would lower the quality of life in the county.

“People who have been signing the petition know what the library does,” she said. “I don’t know understand why Zeigler doesn’t. I would think the commissioners would make it their business to understand what services are being provided to the citizens of the county.

“The county commissioners may not know what the library does, but the people of this county definitely do and they want to be heard.”