BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Food trucks and roadside vendors will now have to pay to set up in the Collier Center parking lot.
The Martin County Public Library announced Monday in a Facebook post that food trucks must pay a $50 setup fee, while yard sales and roadside sellers will have to pay $10. Vendors must pay at the front desk before setting up.
“If you set up for a period of time distributing sales from a Facebook live, you are also required to pay the $10 fee,” the library’s post stated.
Library officials said the fees will help cover cleanup and facility expenses, including electricity.
“We enjoy seeing our parking lot filled and we thank you for understanding,” the library wrote. “This fee is used to help with parking lot cleanup and other uses for the facility, including electricity. It goes back into the libraries [sic] funding to help us continue to provide services for our community.”
The library wrote that many food trucks already know about the fee and have agreed to it.
“They were happy to pay the small fee to use and support our building,” the library added in the comments. “They still enjoy setting up here and have already booked future dates with us as well.”
Not everyone welcomed the change. One resident commented, “It’s all about money.” Another wrote, “Making people pay to set up in a public parking lot paid [for] by taxpayers. This only hurts our community. Goodbye to food trucks coming here.”
On Tuesday, Collier Center facilities director Kendra Fletcher stated the center’s “policy” has always been to charge yard sale vendors $10.
“That has not changed,” Fletcher said.
The newly created fee policy for food trucks went into effect Monday.
“That wasn’t voted on,” explained Fletcher. “That was an operations manager—myself—that was a decision I made.”
The fees come as the library continues to face mounting financial pressure from operating the Collier Center.
The library relocated its main branch to the community center in March 2021 after the coronavirus pandemic and loss of a major donor left the community center unable to pay a $60,000 electric bill. At the time, the library, with $1.007 million in reserves, agreed to cover the past-due bills and assume operations to prevent the center from closing.
But operating the 55,000 square-foot multipurpose facility, which includes three cinemas, a gym, fitness center, meeting rooms and event spaces, has proven more costly than the former 10,900 square-foot library.
Records show the library overspent its revenues by $315,193 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. Previous shortfalls included $142,000 in 2024, $89,456 in 2023 and $275,252 in 2022.
The library’s reserves have steadily dwindled since the move to the community center. In 2020, the district held a $320,000 certificate of deposit and $750,000 in cash. By 2024, cash on hand had fallen to $48,000, though the CD had grown slightly to $327,000. On June 30, 2025, the library reported $58,731 in its bank account and no CD, marking the depletion of that long-held investment.
The Collier Center was built in 2001 with coal severance funds, state and local appropriations and private land donations as a lasting community investment for recreation, culture and gatherings. Nearly 25 years later, the public library is struggling to keep the landmark open while balancing resident expectations and the cost of utilities and upkeep.