The Oak Park Public Library is still waiting for its next round of Cook County property tax funds after delays in the payouts pushed the system to take out a line of credit from the village government last month.
Oak Park’s village government opened up a multi-million-dollar line of credit to the Oak Park Public Library that library leaders said was necessary to keep up the system’s regular operations last month. The village government will loan the library system up to $4.5 million after the library reported a funding gap created by the delayed second installment of 2024 Cook County property tax disbursements, according to village staff.
The village board approved the loan agreement unanimously at its meeting Dec. 9, with Trustee Chibuike Enyia, an library employee, abstaining from the vote.
County treasurer officials told Wednesday Journal that the library will be among the bodies to receive tax disbursements over the next three weeks.
“Beginning on Jan. 13 and stretching over the next three weeks, the Treasurer’s Office plans to distribute the remaining funds in collected property taxes to primary and secondary taxing districts,” Cook County Treasurer’s Office said in a statement.
Elsworth Carman, the library’s executive director, didn’t have more specific information to share on the disbursement timeline.
“I’m hoping we see funds come in soon, but I do not have any details,” Carman told Wednesday Journal via email.
The library is funded almost entirely by property taxes and “isn’t designed” to weather delays in tax money disbursements, according to a library presentation given to the village board’s finance committee. As a result of the delays, the library system has operated in recent months with much less cash on hand while keeping up with the system’s monthly operating expenses of roughly $1 million, according to the library.
“Without a clear timeline from the county for the disbursement of these funds, this temporary bridge funding will be essential to ensure the library can maintain uninterrupted services and operations through at least April 2026,” wrote Virgina Bloom, the library board’s president, in an appeal to the Oak Park finance committee.
Without the loan, “building closures and large-scale furloughs may occur as early as January 2026,” library leaders told the finance committee last month.
The library system has three locations and 130 employees, with about 75% of its expenses coming from personnel costs.
The library must pay the village back within 60 days of receiving the delayed tax disbursements, according to village documents. If the library has not repaid the loan in full by June 30, 2026, the village will begin charging a monthly 4% interest rate on the loan, according to village documents.
As part of the agreement, the library must also submit written requests to the village in order to draw from the funds which the village will review and either approve or deny. The library will be able to draw from the line of credit until the end of March.
