Layoffs Expected after Governor Withholds
Washington State Library Funds
More than three months after the state legislature rescued the Washington State Library from closing its doors by transferring it to the secretary of state’s office, Gov. Gary Locke is withholding nearly $1 million from its operating budget. Library officials say they will be forced to lay off 14 people (about 10% of its staff) as a result.
“This is a drastic cut,” Secretary of State Sam Reed told the Olympian June 21. In a recent letter to Reed, Locke said the library would get $4.4 million of its allocated $5.3 million, with the remainder staying in an emergency fund under the governor’s control.
Rep. Jim Clements (R-Selah), who helped spearhead the effort to keep the library open in March, confirmed that the legislature intended the full amount to go to the library. “I’m not the governor, and I don’t control what he does,” Clements said. “But I think it was poor judgment.”
Acting State Librarian Jan Walsh told the Olympian that the cutback “hurts us in terms of moving forward as a viable agency.” The library has been thinning its collection by some 200,000 books and closing branches at state correctional facilities and at the Rainer School in Buckley, which serves people with developmental disabilities.
Reed said he would approach the legislature next year to request that it restore at least a portion of the funds Locke withheld.
Posted July 1, 2002.
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