Libraries to charge late fees

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Libraries to charge late fees

County News

Thursday, 12 August 2010 06:59

By Morgan Harvey
Intern
No more waived fees.
The Osceola Library System beginning Oct. 1 will start charging daily fines for overdue items, following the Library Advisory Board and Osceola County Commission’s approval June 14 of an annual resolution setting the fees for use of a variety of county-owned facilities or for county-provided services. This includes building permits, growth management and public works functions, emergency medical services, animal control, corrections and parks fees — all for the 2011 fiscal year.
The late fee for checked-out library material will be on a par with the surrounding county library systems, county officials said. In Osceola County, the late fee will be 25 cents per day for books and 50 cents per day for DVDs and music CDs.
Currently at the library, any resource not returned within 30 days of the due date moves into the “assumed lost category,” where patrons could be charged a replacement cost plus a processing fee of $2 for books and $5 for DVDs and CDs. However, if the resource is returned in usable or good condition, fines and fees are waived.
“The library's philosophy is to ensure library materials circulate and are readily available to all members of the community in a timely manner. The library is based on the idea of shared resources, and fines and replacement charges help maintain that source of service,” Larry Krause, county spokesman, stated in an e-mail.
To help remind members of their reservation due dates and help to avoid late fees, the library will be utilizing its online services to send e-mail reminders about lost or overdue items.
“The library seeks to keep library users informed of when their books are due through phone and e-mail notification, but it is each borrower's responsibility to know when items are due and to return them on time. Library users can check their account on the library website and renew books online,” Krause stated.
Officials said most other county departments would not have fee changes.
There will be a new fee for county code enforcement work related to civil court actions, the building department will consolidate three fees into two and there will be higher fees related to drug court and corrections department procedures.