So, how much has the 50% cut to the Southern and Northern Ontario Library Service’s budget saved the taxpayer?

Let's do some quick arithmetic:

There are 300 libraries in Ontario.

Owen Sound sits in the middle of the pack size wise, so it is reasonably safe to use their cost estimate as the median for Ontario libraries.

If it is going to cost Owen Sound an additional $25,000 to $30,000 per year in staffing costs to prepare books for mailing by Canada post, then the increased cost to Ontario's 300 libraries is approximately $7,500,000 to $9,000,000 or 2 to 3 times the cut to SOLS & NOLS.

For purposes of discussion, let's say that Richard Thomas' lowest estimate is off by a whacking 50%. Even then, the taxpayer will still be out an extra $750,000 per year.

And this does NOT include postage!!

Where are the savings?

David McLeish
Owen Sound