In Stamford, CT, Major Branch Cuts Announced, but Hope For a Reprieve
By Norman Oder Aug 9, 2010In June, the Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT, announced it would close its three branches all but one day a week and cut hours at the main library, all to meet a budget shortfall of $1.2 million, some 17 percent less than the library sought to maintain services with promised pay and benefit increases.
Although the fiscal year began July 1, the library board has staved off the closings until September, both to accommodate typical increased summer library use and to buy some time to raise or find new funds to meet the gap.
And, thanks to an under-the-radar amendment to state library law, the Ferguson Library has a chance.
New law impact
Library President Ernest DiMattia told LJ that the closings were postponed to allow the library to take advantage of changes in state law, which allow a library to go the municipality's chief legislative body, in this case the Board of Representatives, to provide funding for the library.
Typically, in the library budget cycle, the mayor sets the budget, which can only be reduced, not increased, by the city's Board of Finance and then its Board of Representatives. Last year, as the Stamford Advocate reported, service at the library was maintained after union members agreed to accept a one-year wage freeze (matched by non-union workers), and the library cut the materials budget, among other savings.
Now the 40-member Board of Representatives can increase the funding. The change in state law also clarifies and codifies language—found last year by Bridgeport Public Library Director Scott Hughes (a 2010 LJ Mover & Shaker)—that allows a mere 50 people to get a library referendum on the ballot.
Will the Ferguson Library go to the public? "We will determine if the Board of Representatives will take us on first," DiMattia said. "Because of the size, it's well representative of the community." He noted that the $1.2 million increase would cost each taxpayer about $27 dollars a year.
Local negotiations
The Board of Finance, according to the Stamford Advocate, was unwilling to set the mill rate to help the library budget last May, with its chairman favoring a plan proposed by former Board of Education President Richard Freedman that would leverage private donations and city money with concessions from union and management.
Freedman, in a blistering but apparently not fully accurate op-ed touting his plan, criticized the library's unwillingness to address management cost reductions and said the library union supported his plan.
However, library union representative Paul Wallace told LJ that the union can't support "philanthropy with a hook" as proposed by a private citizen. "Legally, I can't negotiate with him."
If the cutbacks go through, some 12 to 15 staffers would see their jobs eliminated. The plan was chosen as a better alternative than closing some branches permanently.
Will the planned closings go through? DiMattia noted the library board's decision, but said a special meeting will be held later this month, because the Board of Representatives won't be able to provide an answer as of September 1.
