The Henry County Board of Commissioners recently approved a budget amendment to increase contributions to the Henry County Library System.

  Commissioners voted to allocate an additional $115,000 to fund library services, restoring funding levels to where they were previously before being cut last fiscal year.

  The Board of Regents, which administers state and federal grants to public libraries, requires that local funding be equal to or more than the previous year, in order to continue to receive state funding.

  With the approved budget amendment, Henry County Libraries continue to be compliant with the Maintenance and Effort requirements and are still eligible for both state and federal grants, support services and in-kind services.

  The budget amendment will be allocated from Fund Balance.

  District III Commissioner Gary Barham explained the reasoning behind the budget amendment.   “This is something that happened during the budget process last year when they would cut 5 percent,” said Barham. “It clearly states in the resolution that we are just restoring something that we should have had to begin with and I hope that in the future we will look to not have to do those kinds of cuts.”