California’s $14-Million Library Budget Cut Came As a Surprise
Shortly after noon on August 24, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the FY2007–08 budget 52 days late, ending the state’s third-longest budget impasse in the past 30 years. In his successful attempt to achieve a “zero deficit” budget, the governor slashed two major library programs: the Public Library Foundation and the Transaction Based Reimbursement program, each reduced by $7 million. The cuts came as a complete surprise to county librarians, who were expecting a $1-million increase in the PLF fund that was recommended June 19 by the Budget Conference Committee, according to the California Library Association.
The PLF is a discretionary fund that can be used for many types of programs, though usually not for essential services such as personnel. The TBR fund supports interlibrary loans within the state and allows out-of-county residents to check out books.
In making the line-item budget cuts, Schwarzenegger said he was canceling the PLF increase to “limit program expansions and help bring ongoing General Fund expenditures in line with existing resources.” He explained that the $14-million reduction to both programs from last year’s funding was necessary to “build a prudent reserve in light of the various uncertainties in revenues and spending that we face this year.”
“This was such a shock to the library community,” CLA Legislative Chair Melinda Cervantes told American Libraries. “Although these two programs have never been fully funded, to see so much of them disappear with one swipe of that blue pencil is a struggle for all of us to accept.” She added that the PLF had been slowly recovering from cuts imposed by former Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, who reduced its funding from 88 to 39 cents per capita.
Many libraries will feel the pinch immediately because the fiscal year started July 1. At the Marin County Free Library in San Rafael, about $114,000 will be missing from the library system’s $13-million budget. “It’s an impact,” MCFL Director Carol Starr said in the August 27 Marin Independent Journal. “It sort of strikes me as asking the library to do more than its fair share.” She is relying on making up the difference from the county’s $2-million reserve fund.
The Alameda County Library in Fremont has lost $101,000 in state funding from last year’s levels and—unless fundraising efforts can offset the loss—the result will be fewer books purchased, less children’s programming, and reduced adult literacy training. Alameda County Librarian Jean Hofacket said that Schwarzenegger’s decision “indicates a lack of understanding of the essential role that public libraries play in their communities and in a democratic society.”
California State Librarian Susan Hildreth told AL that the cuts would impact California’s “maintenance of effort”—a requirement that states maintain support for library programs at a minimum of the average of the previous three years or face reductions in federal Library Services and Technology Act funding in future years.
John Laird, chair of the Budget Conference Committee, attributes the budget delay to a California law that requires a two-thirds vote of each legislative house for approval. “Even though the legislative budget process—highlighted by public hearings and a bipartisan conference committee—produced a balanced budget on time,” Laird said, “14 Republican Senators held the budget up for 52 days,” long after a six-month public-review process had taken place.
Posted August 31, 2007.
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