Providence library branches fighting proposed 10% budget cut
May 30th, 2012 at 9:34 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
Providence’s libraries are once again pleading with patrons to come to the rescue.
The Providence City Council is considering a 10% cut in the city’s annual appropriation to the Providence Community Library, the nonprofit that took over management of the nine branches in 2009. The library says the $355,000 reduction could force the libraries to shut their doors for nine weeks in 2012-13.
The proposed budget cuts “will have serious and detrimental consequences,” PCL’s leaders wrote in a message to councilors. “Any reduction to the already bare bones budget will result in reduced services to your constituents.” Mayor Angel Taveras says he’s cutting services to keep the capital out of bankruptcy.
Library leaders are asking patrons to call their City Council members ahead of a Finance Committee meeting Thursday at 6 p.m. and ask them to restore the funding. The library gets the majority of its annual operating budget from city taxpayers, with fundraising and other sources covering the remainder.
• Related: Providence libraries in limbo forces Fox, Taveras to intervene (June 6)
Nesi's Notes covers politics and the economy in and around Rhode Island for WPRI.com. (Twitter: 
It is amazing how everyone knows that we need cuts to the spending in order to keep from spening more than is brought in but no one wants to be the one to get its budget cuts. I would hate the library to close, however, look at it as a short recess. Better than closing down any of the locations, which is also an option.