In a $59-billion budget agreement announced June 12, New York City public libraries will be funded for six-day-a-week service for the first time in six years. Based on a record $4.4-billion surplus, the budget will also reduce property taxes by 7% and provide some sales tax relief on clothing and shoe purchases of over $110.
Cinched with a handshake and a kiss between Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn in the City Hall rotunda, the deal comes weeks earlier than expected, the New York Times reported June 13, and was the earliest since Bloomberg took office in 2002.
“Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Speaker Christine Quinn, and the whole City Council have made the best possible investment in education, job readiness, and quality of life by restoring six-day-a-week library service in the FY2008 budget,” Queens Library Director Thomas W. Galante told American Libraries. “People in Queens will be reaping the benefits for years to come. We can’t thank them enough for their foresight and hard work.”
The Council was expected to officially approve the deal with a vote on June 15. The new budget adds about $230 million to the formal budget proposal the mayor unveiled in April and affects the operating hours of the 63-location Queens system as well as the 82-branch New York Public Library and the 58-branch Brooklyn Public Library.
Bloomberg called the early agreement “a tribute to the cooperative relationship we’ve developed with the City Council leadership, members, and the budget staff. Together we’ve reached a budget that we think is good for the entire city and one that will carry us over and keep us from making some of the mistakes of the past.”
Quinn said the budget “balances fiscal responsibility with the need to provide essential city services to New Yorkers.” The Times reported that the library provision represents a victory for Quinn, who championed the proposition that all public libraries return to being open at least six days a week—a service that was lost in cuts after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The expanded hours are expected to begin in July, not over three years as Quinn originally proposed. The Council also restored $21 million in financing that will allow City University of New York to retain full-time faculty and hire more professors.
Posted June 15, 2007.