The $37.6-billion budget deal reached June 5 by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the City Council not only restores the $42 million that the mayor wanted to cut from libraries, but it includes $10 million extra to allow more branches to open a seventh day and to acquire more books, videos, and other materials.
The city’s record $3.2-billion surplus made the library largess possible, as well as permitting expansions in other government services and a personal income tax cut, the New York Daily News reported June 6. However, the budget fails to address the inadequate salaries that have led to a loss of personnel in the New York, Brooklyn, and Queens Borough library systems.
Posted June 19, 2000.