Mayor's Staff Briefs City Council on $13 Million Budget Cuts
By Keith Vance
April 20, 2009
Libraries, she said, provide access to information for everyone. “Please help us preserve our branch hours in 2010,” pleaded Adkins.
If the economy continues to sour, that could be difficult to do. Early predictions are showing a $40 million budget shortfall for 2010 and there's no evidence that this deficit will not increase.
One speaker, Linda Averill from Organized Workers for Labor Solidarity, suggested taxing millionaires to balance the budget. During a recession, she said the city should be boosting services rather than reducing them.
Maybe so, but the reality of the situation is that the city’s budget is short. As a result, it looks like the entire library system will be shut down for a week in August.
The specific dates have yet to be solidified, but the city's budget director Dwight Dively said the last week of August is historically the slowest time of the year for the libraries.
