Dallas PL Facing 31% Budget Cut, Merger with Cultural Affairs
Library would share administrative staff, while slashing services, staff
Lynn Blumenstein -- Library Journal, 09/01/2009
- Backlash from arts supporters
- Cuts found by arts advocates could stave off merger
- Materials budget could be reduced 64%
Dallas Public Library (DPL), like many others, is facing a substantial budget cut—31 percent. But a proposed partial remedy to its strained resources involves a merger with the Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA), a somewhat unusual move, given that libraries, when not independent, are more often partnered with departments of education or recreation.
Dallas is proposing to reduce the number of city departments from 31 to 22, but this change has generated significant pushback from arts advocates.
Consolidation, budget, vote due September 23
According to DPL spokesperson Corinne Hill, City Council is receiving feedback from citizens through Town Hall meetings and will vote on the budget September 23. If the merger plan is enacted, the consolidation would got into effect on October 1.
The OCA is subject to a similar budget slash, which comes at a time when a new $354 million Center for the Performing Arts is about to open. According to the Dallas Morning News, supporters are upset.
"Arts and culture should be regarded as an economic development issue, something that will attract money and people to the city," Veletta Forsythe Lill, director of the Dallas Arts District, told the newspaper. "To change that is to regard it as simply the delivery of a service, like the library."
Meanwhile, arts advocates argue that no other top ten city lacks an independent arts agency. KERA reported that City Manager Mary Suhm told arts advocates that if they could find $150,000 in additional cuts, the OCA could stay independent--and they said they could.
Hours, staff, services could plunge
DPL’s budget will be decided on the same day as the merger plan. If approved, the changes will be dramatic, Hill told LJ. Branches will be reduced to 40 hours from their current 47 and the central library will be open 44 hours instead of 68. Staffing levels will be reduced with the loss of 89 positions—29 people have received Reduction in Force letters (the remaining 60 positions are vacant). The materials budget will be reduced by 64 percent.
DPL would house the staff from the OCA and would share administrative support staff; the agencies' names would not change.
"Should Dallas’ City Council decide to approve this proposal, the library will welcome all of the staff from the Office of Cultural Affairs," said Hill. "The City of Dallas will continue to support its arts and cultural activities, and it will continue to support the Library—that will not change."
