FLINTSHIRE Council is owed more than £11,000 in unpaid library fines.
A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Leader revealed that during the past three-and-a-half years library users have accrued an outstanding debt of £11,423.76.
Holywell Library has the worst offenders with more than £1,800 in outstanding fees, closely followed by Connah’s Quay with a debt of £1,742,90.
At the other end of the scale Gwernaffield Library, which has now been shut down, closed with just 10p owed in outstanding fees.
NEWnet – the bibliography department at Flintshire Library headquarters in Mold – is owed £4.90, while the library headquarters itself has just £9.80 in outstanding fines.
There are 57,016 library users across the county and a recent audit of fines going back five years showed there were 8,764 members’ accounts with money owed – equating to an average of £1.63 per user.
A spokesman for Flintshire Council said it uses various measures to recover unpaid library fines.
The spokesman said: “The total owed for the 3.5 years to mid-year 2011-12 is £11,423.76 at the time of reporting.
“All registered library members have an account and this accrues unpaid fines.
“Fines can be paid off at any time and many users forget about the fine until their next library visit – which can be many months later.
“We have a system for recovery of overdue books and fines which includes posted reminders, an official bill and in some cases, which meet certain criteria, recovery via the county council’s debt recovery system.”