Don’t accept the new normal.
That’s the mantra attorney and public library advocate Bill Brinton hopes the community will embrace as City Council prepares to begin reviewing the city’s 2016-17 spending plan proposed by Mayor Lenny Curry.
The public library‘s annual budget was $40.8 million in 2010-11 and has since steadily decreased.
The budget proposed for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 is $31.2 million, about $428,000 less than the current budget, due to reduced costs for internal information technology service charges and utilities.
“The public does not understand how the library got hammered,” said Brinton.
Library officials declined to comment for this story, instead providing only annual budget allocation figures for the past two years.
One of the major changes in library services due to budget reductions was the number of hours libraries are open.
When the 2012-13 library budget was enacted, 224 service hours — about 24 percent — were eliminated, along with 71 full-time jobs.
With fewer hours of operation, not as many librarians were needed to staff the Main Library Downtown and the 20 neighborhood branch libraries.
Reducing hours also cut the costs for security and janitorial services, said public library Director Barbara Gubbin at the time.
The Main Library is open 48 hours per week, while most branches are open 40 hours each week. Many are closed Sunday and Monday.
The eight hours were added to the Main Library schedule when council found $100,000 in additional funding for libraries in the 2016-17 budget, Brinton said.
Despite that small gain, he’s concerned about next year’s budget, which will begin to be reviewed next week by the council Finance Committee.
“The way budgets go, if you had it last year, it’s easier to have it next year. If it’s gone, it’s hard to get it back,” he said.
Another concern is the materials budget — the amount of money available to purchase books and electronic media.
In the past 10 years, that budget has decreased from more than $5 million to less than $3 million.
Brinton, who is president of the Friends of the Murray Hill Public Library, said it’s not uncommon to wait for two months or longer to be able to check out a popular new book because the library can’t buy enough copies to meet the demand.
“It’s like if you walked into a grocery store and saw empty shelves,” said Brinton.
He’s encouraging the public to support increasing the library’s budget to allow lost service hours to be restored and to allow more materials to be purchased.
“The question is if the City Council can find some money in the budget to restore more library hours,” Brinton said.
“We can’t accept the new norm,” he added.
Library officials are scheduled to make an 85-minute presentation at 9 a.m. Aug. 12, in the council chamber at City Hall, the second day of the budget hearings.
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