LAKE COUNTY ? For Lake County librarian Kathy Jansen, the recently passed 2007-08 state budget spells bad news for public libraries after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger applied his blue pencil to cut funds. According to the governor, the move was necessary to produce a budget with zero deficits. Remarkably, Jansen says, area libraries continue to hang on, albeit by a shoestring.
“We”ve never had to close a branch, and we”ve gone through some really hard times over the years,” says Jansen.
Lake Counties” four libraries stand to loose up to $150,000 from the cuts to the Public Library Foundation, and will sustain additional losses from cuts made to the Transaction Based Reimbursement program, an important source of over $100,000 in revenue for the county library system, which will operate on a $1.4 million budget for 2007-08.
The unpredictability of the budget is something Jansen has come to expect, and she says as a result she operates a “fairly conservative budget” making sure to invest in books when the money is there. “We have an extensive children”s collection, and were able to buy a lot of books last year when the governor added money to the PLF and TBR,” says Jansen.
In his January 2006 budget proposal, Governor Schwarzenegger cut $2 million for libraries, but revised his decision in the May rewrite, allocating $7 million to the PLF and an additional $7 million to the TBR and interlibrary loan program. According to budget records at the state government Web site, this makes him the first governor ever to add funds into the budget for libraries.
While demand for library services is high in Lake County, the budget has allowed slow, incremental growth in terms of services and hours of operations over the years, according to Jansen. “We used to be open in Upper Lake and Middletown only 15 hours per week, but now they”re both open 25 hours per week,” says Jansen.
A new library is needed for Middletown, and while last year”s grant proposal fell through, the county has set aside funds for the construction of a new building. Growth of this kind could be affected by an unpredictable budget, according to Jansen.
“We could do with a few more libraries in the county, and a children”s librarian. Unfortunately, it”s not on the horizon,” says Jansen
The recent cuts mean the county library system is being extra conservative?delaying the creation of new programs, postponing filling new positions and spending less on books, according to Jansen.
“This was a big surprise that the Governor did take money out of libraries, because in his May Revise he actually added money to the PLF,” says Jansen.
In Gov. Schwarzenegger”s statement after he signed the 2007-08 budget he says: “I am deleting the discretionary $1 million legislative augmentation to the Public Library Foundation?In addition, I am deleting $7 million in order to further build a prudent reserve in light of the various uncertainties in revenues and spending that we face this year.”
H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the California state department of finance says, “The $8 million reduction to public libraries was part of $703 million and 50 items of vetoes. Most certainly this is not the issue of Gov. Schwarzenegger being against public libraries.”
Palmer says the governor curbed spending in order to build up a “prudent hedge against uncertainties in the future,” such as slow economic growth, a perpetuated housing slump, and low income tax revenues.
According to Mike Dillon, lobbyist for the California Library Association, a tumultuous economy and budget woes in recent years have led to a process of “give and take?where libraries are easy targets and usually the first to get cut in the budget.”
“Local libraries wage a constant battle that started in the ?80s where the administration cuts, the Legislature adds, and the governor comes back in again and cuts funds when the budget is decided,” says Dillon.
According to budget records, the PLF was reduced in budget year 2001-02 by Gov. Gray Davis by 72 percent, and additional cuts by Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2004-05 left the figure at 75 percent cuts for libraries since 2001-02.
The 2007-08 funding for the fiscal year brings the public library budget down to 17 percent of what it would be if it were fully funded. Last year that figure was 26 percent. Both Dillon and Jansen call 2006-07 “a good year.”
“We had a $200,000 book budget plus donations, so we were able to get a lot of books. I think the governor is fairly supportive of libraries, as most governors have been, but the state of California has financial problems, and I think that because libraries have always been here for people, sometimes they get taken for granted,” says Jansen.
