N.Y. Legislature Restores $13.3 Million in Library Funds Cut by Governor

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2003/may2003/nylegislature.cfm

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Posted May 19, 2003.

N.Y. Legislature Restores $13.3 Million in Library Funds Cut by Governor

The New York Legislature has restored the $13.3 million that Gov. George Pataki cut from the state’s 742 public libraries in his 2003 budget proposal. Although Pataki vetoed $1.3 billion in overall spending that the Legislature had added to his budget, the Assembly and the Senate both overrode that action by overwhelming majorities May 15.

New York Library Association Executive Director Susan Lehman Keitel said that Pataki’s reduction in library funding amounted to a 15% cut, proportionally double what other education sectors received. “The library community in New York was marvelous,” she told American Libraries, persuading legislators to reinstate the full $13.3 million—the only area where the entire cut was restored.

Pataki has threatened to mount a legal challenge to the tax increases the Legislature enacted to cover the increased spending. “We believe the taxes they imposed were done in an unconstitutional way,” he told the May 16 New York Times. “We have yet to determine the action we will take in response to that.”

Posted May 19, 2003.