Now that the holiday is over, we wanted to take this moment to thank you and everyone else who rallied in support of our city’s libraries during this year’s budget process.
Although these institutions still took a hit, the NYC Council was able to restore nearly $90 million of a threatened $96 million cut in funding to the City’s libraries in the Fiscal 2013 Adopted Budget.
This restoration should prevent any closures and lay-offs throughout the New York, Queens and Brooklyn library systems.
It will also allow most, if not all, of our neighborhood branches to remain open five days a week, so that New Yorkers will continue to have access to all of the books, computers, workshops, job search resources and other free services that our libraries provide.
Our new budget plan also:
- safeguards early childhood education and after school programs;
- avoids a reduction in teachers and the layoff of teacher aides;
- supports essential senior services;
- prevents any firehouses from closing, and
- establishes funding for an anti-gun violence task force.
Again, our heartfelt thanks to you and everyone else who showed their love and support for our city’s libraries throughout this year’s budget process. Special thanks as well to all of the advocates who helped us stand firm on the need to maintain existing service levels and avoid any layoffs.
As we said in our Preliminary Budget Response, we need to find a way to stabilize service so that our libraries – and everyone who enjoys and uses them – aren’t subjected to all this worry and uncertainty year after year. That’s something that we’ll continue to push for – but we’ll need your support.
In fact, if you haven’t had a chance to yet, we hope you will sign up for Council “enews.” These issue-based e-mail updates are an important way for us to stay connected and engaged with you and other New Yorkers about the budget, Council hearings and events, and other critical issues impacting our City. It should only take a minute or two to sign up at http://council.nyc.gov/html/action_center/enews.shtml.
