Robert Oaks (R-Macedon) said that he and three other Republicans on a panel of six Assembly members present recommended that legislators use a portion of their discretionary funds for library assistance, the October 14 Geneva Finger Lakes Times reported. He agreed it was not a long-term solution, but “it is a way to take care of the funding problem this year.”
PLS Executive Director Jennifer Morris reminded the panel that the funds Pataki cut represent only one-tenth of one percent of the entire state budget. “It’s peanuts to you. It’s everything to us,” Morris said, adding that the struggle for state funds was never-ending and that libraries needed reliable, not discretionary, funding.
Sandra Galef (D-Ossining), chair of the Standing Committee on Libraries and Education Technology, criticized Republicans for not overriding Pataki’s veto. “Libraries have not had an increase in aid since 1998 where everything else has gone up,” she said. “Fuel costs and transportation of books and so on have all gone up.”
An override fell one vote short in the Assembly September 20; lawmakers have until the end of the year to make another attempt, but the measure needs two-thirds approval in both the Republican-led Senate and the Democratic-led Assembly.
Posted October 15, 2004.