By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ST. BERNARD - Less than two years ago, St. Bernard was on the verge of getting a long-awaited new and larger public library branch to replace its cramped, outdated one.

But today, the grassy rectangular site on Vine Street sits vacant. And no one knows when the library will be built.

Just before construction was to begin, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County put the project on indefinite hold when a drop in state income tax revenue caused serious funding cutbacks. The Hamilton County library system's state funding declined from its 2001 amount by $4.6 million last year and $5 million this year.

"The funding for construction is in place," said Amy Bannister, library spokeswoman. "But we don't have the money to operate it. When you build a larger facility, your operating expenses go up."

The St. Bernard branch would cost $160,000 a year more to operate than the existing library on Tower Avenue, Bannister said. And that doesn't include the cost of new books and other materials.

Library officials say that as soon as more state funding flows to library systems, the St. Bernard branch will be built. Kim Fenders, the library's executive director, told St. Bernard City Council last month that it's at the top the library's priority list of capital projects.

But no one can predict when that will happen.

In the meantime, the staff and patrons of the one-room St. Bernard branch try to make the best of it. Since moving into its current building 30 years ago, circulation has doubled to more than 100,000 items a year.

But the branch - one of the system's smaller ones - holds only 22,400 books and periodicals and 3,500 CDs, audiocassettes, DVDs and videotapes. By contrast, the Blue Ash branch has 82,700 books and periodicals and 9,500 audiovisual items.

Doris Burkhardt, 77, a lifelong St. Bernard resident, said the community sorely needs a larger library.

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E-mail skemme@enquirer.com