1. (a) A public library must demonstrate local effort on an annual basis by maintaining or increasing local operating expenditures or per capita local operating expenditures. Expenditures for the current reporting year will be compared to the average of the total local operating expenditures or to the average of the total per capita local operating expenditures for the three preceding years.
2. (b) A public library that expends at least $22.00 per capita and at least $200,000 of local funds is exempt from subsection (a) of this accreditation criterion.
3. (c) At least half of the annual local operating expenditures required to meet the minimum level of per capita support for accreditation must be from local government sources. Local government sources are defined as money appropriated by library districts, school districts, or city, municipal, or county governments.
4. (d) A public library that expends at least $22.00 per capita is exempt from subsection (c) of this accreditation criterion if it shows evidence of some library expenditures from local government sources and is open to the public under identical conditions without charge.
5. (e) A public library must have minimum total local expenditures of $24,000 in local fiscal years 2026, 2027, 2028; at least $27,000 in local fiscal years 2029, 2030, 2031; at least $30,000 in local fiscal years 2032, 2033, 2034.

Source Note:The provisions of this §1.75 adopted to be effective September 1, 2025, 50 TexReg 2765.