Few organizations whose budget is dependent on state spending are happy with Gov. David Paterson’s 2010 budget proposal, and that includes those synonymous with the word free: libraries.
Paterson’s proposal calls for a 2.76 percent reduction in library aid payments, or a $2.4 million cut, that would bring total library funding to $84.45 million. The governor is calling for reductions in most areas of state spending.
New York Library Association Executive Director Michael Borges testified on Tuesday, Feb. 2,before the State Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Education that the cuts would reduce library aid to below 1998 levels, and would be the fifth time since April 2008 that library aid has been cutan 18 percent reduction.
We’ve already done our part to addressing the state’s deficit,` Borges said in a later interview. `The funding cuts are beginning to create great stress on libraries and library systems.`
Nancy Pieri, director of the Bethlehem Public Library, said library aid reductions probably won’t directly impact her library’s budget, but the effects on the Upper Hudson Library System could be felt locally.
`We would be able to accommodate those cuts,` she said of budget proposal. `But what I can’t accommodate is for my system to go broke.`
This year’s Bethlehem Public Library Budget calls for $22,000 in state aid, down more than $4,000 from last year.
The Upper Hudson Library System runs an interlibrary loan program, online databases and catalogues and provides technical support services`all expensive endeavors. If the system must discontinue the services costs will likely be passed on to local libraries and taxpayers might end up footing the bill, said Borges, who is also a Guilderland Library Trustee.
`A good segment of library aid goes to the library systems, which provide the connection and the backbone of individual libraries,` he said. `There’s a lot of cost savings involved to the librariesthe state created these library systems for that very reason.`
The Guilderland Library’s state aid has been reduced from about $10,000 in 2007 to $8,000 this year.
Philip Ritter, executive director of the Upper Hudson Library System, said library systems have been dealing with shrinking budgets for years. 85 percent of the UHLS’s budget is comprised of state aid (the rest is from federal grants and income from leasing out parts of its office building).
`Funding has been a constant problem,` Ritter said. `We can only spend what money we have, so once we know what the state’s going to give us for the year we determine our budget.`
Since he took the post ten years ago, the UHLS has gone from employing 17 to 10, Ritter said.
Library supporters said of all the times to cut library funding, now is one of the worst. Libraries generally see increased use in times of economic strife, as families look to cut back on discretionary spending and the unemployed and underemployed flock into libraries to use Internet connections, browse the classifieds or get help building a resume.
`Our use has really taken a big jump since last year, its busy in here all the time,` Pieri said. `Public access computers are being used constantly.`
Borges likened libraries to social services like food banks and unemployment insurance, and said it can be used to battle the job crisis by providing training and job-hunting resources. He called the proposed cuts `penny wise but pound foolish` for this reason.
`Libraries are now part of that safety net network,` he said.
Paterson recently announced his initial budget proposal had misestimated this year’s deficit by $750 million, and insinuated the money would be made up with further reductions. The Governor was due to reexamine the budget in his 21-day amendments due out Tuesday, Feb. 9, after The Spotlight went to print.
`I wouldn’t be surprised if the governor’s budget could incur more cuts to libraries,` Borges said.
Paterson in past weeks has made reining in spending the drumbeat of his public presence in past weeks, saying the state needs to seek out significant reductions if it wishes to remain solvent.
Taxpayers vote on local library budgets along with school budgets in May.
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