Community Corner

Library Board: Services Will Be Reduced

Village board makes further reductions to Garden City Library's budget.

After further reductions in the Garden City Public Library's proposed 2011/2012 budget, library trustees warn that, as a result, a reduced schedule and diminished services are on the horizon.

The proposed $3,579,851 spending plan was further slashed by nearly $259,000, dropping it down to $3,321,270. Garden City mayor-elect Don Brudie told Patch that final budget numbers, however, also include a $3,050,000 village contribution.

"It is our position that the library trustees have the responsibility to work within the parameters of the budget approved for the operation of the library and to implement those allocations in a manner that they alone deem appropriate," Brudie said on behalf of the village board. "The sense of the village board of trustees was that notwithstanding necessary cutbacks that Sunday closure was to be avoided at all costs."

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J. Randolph Colahan, library board chair, says the library board initially proposed a "flat budget" that was "6.7 percent less than five years ago."

The initial $3.6 million proposal was derived after a 25 percent reduction in part-time staff hours, a 30 percent reduction in library materials and a 20 percent overall reduction in non-personnel costs, according to library board members.

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“The goal of the library board, director and staff is to augment and enhance the services provided by the library while achieving cost savings,” said Colahan. “Our residents have come to expect high quality programs for themselves and their families.”

In its recommendations to the village board, the Citizens Budget Review and Advisory Committee (CBRAC) suggested the library's budget be approved at 20-25 percent below the zero increase budget ($3.6 million) - bringing it between $2.886 and $2.706 million.

After comparing Garden City's library with 54 others across Nassau County, the CBRAC concluded Garden City's library is "overstaffed, overfunded."

"We encourage the BOT to review this analysis and make the best business decision for our community to streamline the operations while providing the same level of services," committee members state in the CBRAC report.

Colahan said the recommendations to "sharply reduce funding" will result in a reduction in the hours and days open as well as a reduction in the programs and services offered.

“The importance of library services is even greater in a time of economic uncertainty,” he said. “More and more people are using the library to update job resumes, access financial information and use our meeting spaces. The library is an economic development engine providing resources for small business entrepreneurs and by being the destination that brings people into our village’s downtown area.”

Currently, the library is open 66 hours per week. "Further details of how the library will cope with these reductions will be forthcoming,” according to a library board joint statement.


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