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Denver PL Cuts Hours, BudgetThe downtown Denver Public Library will close Wednesdays beginning July 1 in an effort to reduce its budget 11%, as directed by Mayor Wellington Webb. The measure is one of several approved by library commissioners May 15 to meet mandated budget reductions totaling nearly $3.5 million brought about by declining sales-tax revenues and other city and county income.Cutting hours “strikes at the heart of what we do,” City Librarian Rick Ashton said in the May 16 Denver Rocky Mountain News, adding that the library was also slicing an additional 8%, or $450,000, from its books budget. Each of the system’s 23 branches, as well as its bookmobile, will also close an additional full day each week. Over the next 18 months, library officials hope to eliminate 35 jobs by not filling vacancies when employees leave. However, at the beginning of 2004 commissioners will evaluate whether the attrition approach is working or whether layoffs will be necessary. A measure to close the system for an entire week will also be considered. The cuts were approved after the library held a series of six town-hall meetings in early May to gauge public support for creating a special library district that would raise its own taxes. The commission hopes to put the proposal to voters in November. Posted May 19, 2003. |
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