Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Better Budget News!

At this evening's City Council Meeting, the Council voted unanimously to increase the Library's budget for FY 2010/11! Yes, that's right, an increase in General Fund monies was allotted to our budget!

Councilperson Lisa Bennett gave an impassioned plea for greater support for the Library, and made the motion to raise the General Fund allocation from $550,000 to $600,000. After thoughtful discussion among the six Council members, the motion was passed unanimously.

Will this allow the Library to be open more hours? Not yet. However it will allow more part-time staffing - which will help us catch up on the backlog of routine tasks and special projects that have been on hold during the severe budget cuts of the past three years.

Also, as Councilperson Bennett emphasized, increased support by the Council sends a strong message to Pagrovians that together we can rebuild the Library to be strong and vibrant once again. She painted an inspiring scenario that with General Fund support and a successful Library ballot measure, the Library's budget could be restored to its previous funding level of $1.1 - $1.2 million.

The recommended changes are contingent on a second reading and final approval of the Budget on June 16th. Meanwhile, you may want to drop your City Council members a Thank You.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Terrific news! One small drop at a time - love you PGPL, polly