DeKalb County Budget Deal
Could Restore Library Cuts
Commissioners in DeKalb County, Georgia, have reached a budget deal that could reopen two closed library branches and restore hours that were cut as a result of a budget crisis.
The agreement, which must still be voted on as part of the 1999 budget, would reopen the Embry Hills and Hairston Crossing branches and restore Sunday service for three other libraries.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported February 20 that the commission and county CEO Liane Levetan had been fighting over $12 million in sales tax funding slated for road improvement projects that the CEO wanted to use to balance the 1999 budget. Under the agreement, that funding will be kept out of the budget, but the commission agreed to use interest on sales tax funds (estimated at $5.5 million) and to cut elsewhere to make up for the budget shortfall.
“I certainly do feel better,” said Levetan. “Libraries are quality of life issues. . . . A community without libraries is nothing.”
Posted March 8, 1999.
|
