Link to October 30 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, "City may bail out libraries with fuel fund glut".Excerpt: A proposal to pay for libraries in part with Pittsburgh's excess gasoline money fueled a burst of pronouncements yesterday on keeping city and suburban facilities open, but also drew criticism for being premature.
Nearly a month after the Carnegie Library Board of Trustees voted to close the Beechview, Hazelwood, Lawrenceville and West End branches, and merge the Carrick and Knoxville branches, City Council President Doug Shields proposed pledging $600,000 from the city's flush fuel fund now, and the same amount from its healthy savings account next year, to keep the libraries open.
The city's fuel fund is the amount of money the city budgets to fill the gas tanks of its fleet of vehicles. Mr. Shields said the fund is expected to finish the year with a $1.6 million surplus because the city anticipated that gas prices would be higher than they were.
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