In general, I agree with this strategy. However, as stated I don’t think it’s politically feasible. What might be easier is to borrow money during the bad times, and pay off during the good times – but that’s called “deficit spending”, and requires an authorisation for borrowing the money, which might also not be easy politically.
One of the few things my benighted county has going for it is a very good library system. They’ve already shut down one branch. I spoke to the head librarian of my branch this morning, and she said their circulation in the branch is way up. Use of all of their services is way up but staff and branch hours are declining.
I’ve sent some emails and need to send more.
I also told her I was keeping all the books past due so I could pay a fine on them, but hell! The fines are so low they aren’t even scary! I think it’s ten cents a day with a maximum of two dollars.
What would you cut? Road maintenance? Healthcare?
Raises for government employees. They can make do with a small cost of living increase for one year as opposed to a more substantial raise.
ok, you’ve just shaved off about 10% of what you needed to shave off and have government workers going on strike. Where are you going to get the other 90%?
Former Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County employee here. I had to split after the last first big round of cuts after 9/11, because, due to the hiring freeze that was instituted at the time, during which I ended up working full-time hours as a part-timer with no health care.
Anyway, a large part of the blame lies with the local library boards that refuse to put levies on the ballot. At least, I know that’s the case with Hamilton county. It’s taken eight years of declining funding to get our (mostly Republican-appointed) library board to even consider putting the issue to the voters.
I really wish they would have done it earlier - the five years I spent as a mostly reference-oriented Library Assistant were probably the most rewarding ones of my career. I was all set to go get my MLS and do it professionally before the budget went tits up.
Oh well. They lost themselves and educated, dedicated, potential life-long public servant to a relatively lucrative career in private industry.
Cost of living increase? No. Those of us in the private sector are getting no increases at all, and many have had reduced hours/pay cuts. Why do you think that govt employees should get even a small increase?
The local government workers I know are all getting pay cuts, not raises, plus they all have to do more work because of all the layoffs in their departments. They are certainly not having it any better than those of us in the private sector.
Milwaukee County has a federated library system which is quite nice. I use the library at least once a week to checkout CD’s, books, and to read magazines and newspapers.
My neighbor 2 houses down never goes to the library.
Exactly why should she pay taxes so I can do something that I could do at a bookstore and pay for it myself? She doesn’t owe me shit!
It was a big pain in the ass to me when libraries started to close early and not open until noon. So what? In tough times I think libraries are the first taxpayer item I’d cut.
One solution is, I should have to pay a fee for what I use at the library and my neighbor shouldn’t have to pay anything.
Why should I pay taxes so the fire department can put out other peoples’ house fires? My house never catches fire!
While I can’t speak for Ohio, in New York, the state cut library funding by $20 million and did it without cutting any of the other major funding lines. Oh sure, other departments were cut too. But the amount of their increase was cut, while the library received $20 million less than we got last year.
So forgive me if I’m a little pissed that libraries don’t even merit year-to-year stability while other departments get increases and then whine that it wasn’t as big of an increase as they were expecting.
You’re kidding right? New York cut services across the board. They even scaled back subway service in NYC and are introducing a fare hike.
If you’re using New York as the example for your argument, it’s about the worst example you could have picked.
Equating the importance of a fire department with a library is just stupid.
You’re right. My numbers were from an end of the year cut when the library was one of the few departments cut so the state would have a little more money in the next year. Then they hit us again.
You’re right. Libraries are used by a much larger percentage of the population. There’s really no comparison.
These are stupid arguments.
You’re missing the point, dear, which is that your neighbor’s tax money is going to any number of things she doesn’t use - and most of those things are probably of far less utility than a library.
Upkeep of statue of local worthy Finnagain Beginnagain in the park? Yeah, that does her a lot of good, I’m sure. Sign commemorating the joining of Bupkiss City and La Rochelle, France? Equally worthless.
Heh in New York they paid like 12 million to move a fountain two feet so it would line up with 5th avenue. Pisses me off. Also several million to rename the Triboro Bridge to the RFK Memorial bridge. Fucking stupid shit.
It was a joke… I say… It was a joke son.
The boy’s more mixed up than a feather in a whirlwind.
We have an awesome public library system here in the city of Phoenix. Sixteen branches and the smallest one is bigger than the one library that the city I grew up in had. The largest one is 5 storeys tall and 280,000 square feet. Unfortunately, they’ve recently gutted the whole system. Tons of seminars, programs, and classes have been cut. Hours have been slashed back to less than banking hours on some days, some branches are closed on some days, employees have been laid off or had their hours decimated. They justified laying a lot of people off by getting more automated checkout machines, but since they keep breaking, and usership has skyrocketed, be prepared to stand in line forever now-- where there used to never be a line at all. Ten days ago I placed a transfer on a book that is checked in at a branch across town and it still isn’t here yet. Six months ago it’d’ve been here the next day. If I’d know I would’ve just drove over to get it.
This really sucks, and I personally know a librarian who’s really up in arms about it. I use the library a lot and think it’s a wonderful institution, vital to the community, invaluable to kids, etc. etc. etc. But the state budget in Ohio has had to be cut repeatedly in recent years, and it looks like it’s going to get even worse before it gets better, given the economy and flat tax revenues. Gov. Strickland has no good options; only a very unappealing array of lesser evils.