Overdue: The city should pay what it owes the libraries
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Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has made it clear that he doesn't want the city to give the Carnegie Library system the $640,000 it is expecting, but this decision is not his to make.
A year ago, when the mayor was pushing a plan to tax college tuitions, he said $1.2 million of the anticipated revenue would go to bolster the libraries. After the tax plan went nowhere, the mayor said he'd provide only $600,000 to the Carnegie system, and the libraries received the money.
But City Council felt differently about additional dollars, and it unanimously passed a resolution in June that allocated $640,000 from the city's 2010 capital budget, with the provision that the system keep its city branches open and work on developing a new funding stream. The measure took effect without the mayor's signature.
State Rep. Chelsa Wagner and city Councilman Bruce Kraus, a member of the library's board, said Monday it's time for the city to pay up.
A library task force is at work shoring up finances, the system expects an increase in Regional Asset District money for 2011 and it has seen a dramatic jump in patrons giving to their libraries. Still, the system needs the city funding this year, and the mayor should release it.
First Published November 3, 2010 12:00 am
