Chicago Mayor Proposes Deep Cut to Staffing at Chicago PL

Chicago's new mayor has recommended a budget that would deeply cut the Chicago Public Library's budget and staff, and he doesn't want the library employees talking to the press about a plan that could cost about a third of them their jobs.

Library officials contacted by LJ uniformly referred all questions about Mayor Rahm Emanuel's budget to the mayor's office, and the employees had no comment about Emanuel's proposed budget which recommends:

--- Cut overall library funding from $90.3 million in FY11 to $79 million in FY12 (although the city's contribution would go from $63.4 million to $64.7 million, which includes an expected $10 million state grant for capital projects);

--- Cut the library's FTE count from 1128 to 765;

--- Reduce service hours 8 hours a week, keeping branches open six days a week but with reduced hours on Monday and Friday mornings for a savings of $6.6 million.

Mary A. Dempsey, the library commissioner who oversees the system's 78 locations, declined to comment, but she made some remarks to the city's aldermen at a meeting on October 21 about the impact of losing what amounts to a third of her staff.

"When you have reduced staff, reduced hours, you have reduced access," Dempsey said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "So reduced access to books, circulation will drop, visitorship will drop, access to computers will drop ... all of that will be impacted."

Dempsey also expressed concerns that changes in city funding levels could affect state funding as well because of the formula used to calculate such aid, the Tribune reported.

The union representing library workers, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, has posted a petition online protesting the proposed budget, and as of noon on Tuesday, October 25, the petition had 1669 signatures. There also is a Facebook page and a Twitter feed.

A union spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment.

Emanuel is trying to close a $646 million budget deficit. Chris Mather, a mayoral spokesperson, defended the proposed library budget.

"We were originally looking at closing more than eight libraries, but by working closely with the department and identifying additional funding to support library operations, we were able to propose a reduction of eight hours at the branch libraries —by far the best of the two choices for Chicagoans," Mather told the Tribune.