D.C. Public Library spokeswoman Monica Lewis said the mayor also plans to ask the city council for a $5.5-million addition to this year’s maintenance budget for painting, new carpeting, and other cosmetic changes, the Washington Post reported March 23.
In January a task force appointed by Williams called for more than $450 million in improvements to the system, including a new $280-million headquarters library and replacement of half its collection.
President Bush’s FY 2007 budget proposal includes $30 million in matching funds for the D.C. library system to begin construction on a new central library and renovate branches. Although the mayor’s budget, submitted March 21, doesn’t include funds for a new headquarters, it proposes that proceeds from leasing the current facility go toward the cost of the new building, which the task force estimated at $280 million.
Library board Chair John W. Hill told the Post that Williams’s budget “will go a long way in implementing some of the things suggested in the blue-ribbon panel’s report.”
Posted March 24, 2006.