COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. - Collier County's brand new South Regional Library is 30,000 square feet and cost about $13 million dollars to build. But, there are some important items still missing; books, furniture and staff.

"We're in the process of buying that furniture," says Library Director Marilyn Matthes. "We've been working for several months selecting new books for the library."

The countywide budget crunch forced commissioners to put off buying those items. That delayed the opening of the library by about two months.

"We're projecting sometime in April. That's based on delivery times of furniture and delivery times of the books," says Matthes.

The library is sitting empty and that delay is costing taxpayers a lot of money. Matthes says about $90,000 a month on utilities.

"We're paying utilities sure. We're paying utilities now ever since we took over the building in mid October," says Matthes.

County Commissioners allocated about $250,000 for nine new staff members, but the library needs 14 staff members. Now, they'll have to shut down six other collier libraries an extra day a week to make up for staff deficits.

"Not necessarily just cause this building is opening, but the economy is not very good," says Matthes. "Having a staff freeze if people leave we can't replace people and as we lose people we really have to re-evaluate our hours."