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Three Minneapolis Branches to CloseHoping to avoid additional layoffs, extend hours at remaining branches, and keep the Minneapolis Public Library system afloat through 2008, the library board voted 6–2 October 25 to shut down the Roosevelt, Southeast, and Webber Park branches, as well as close the Central Library on Mondays. The action, which takes effect January 1, comes after weeks of community meetings and forums that presented several different cost-cutting scenarios.Many residents remain frustrated. Six years ago, voters okayed higher taxes to build the $125-million Central Library, which opened to fanfare in May and has doubled its circulation since last year. “[The new library] did not cause the problem,” Library Director Kit Hadley said on CBS affiliate WCCO-TV October 20. “There’s no question that the capital investment that was made three years before the bottom fell out of the operating budget has complicated solving the problem.” In 2003, Minneapolis suffered cuts of $2 million in local government and state funding, which accounted for 43% of the library system’s operating budget. A recent public survey indicated that nearly 80% of respondents would still support paying for libraries through a property tax increase. Even though the library system is not a city department, the board depends on the city council for money and is not authorized to raise funds. “There is a critical breakdown in accountability,” board President Anita S. Duckor told the October 25 Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “The problem is that we will have a train wreck within three years—six to eight libraries closing—if we don’t act [decisively] now.” However, an October 25 city council meeting left Hadley encouraged. “I saw an engaged discussion about libraries for the first time in my experience here,” she said. “I saw an attempt to find permanent funding increases, and I hadn’t heard that before.” Potential future options include a potential alliance with Hennepin County’s separate library system, as well as the prospect of a the MPL gaining taxing authority. A lengthy meeting of the city council’s Ways and Means Committee also resulted in strong pledges from council members to help. In an October 25 letter in the Star-Tribune, Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak offered to set aside $1.1 million to reopen the remodeled East Lake and North Regional branches in January 2007, and extend hours at other branches, though Hadley contends that this money does not ensure the ability to pay librarians beyond 2007. The board will make final budgets decisions in December. Posted October 27, 2006. |
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