Massachusetts State Budget Includes Cuts in Aid to Cities and Towns

According to statistics gathered by the Institute for Museum and Library Services, Massachusetts public libraries received 87% of their funding from local sources in 2007.

The worry that 'the cuts will hit home locally'  is likely to be realized -- if it hasn't already.

Springfield (Massachusetts) City Library

Where Retiring Guy was a regular visitor, 1976-1978

Link to June 24 Boston Globe article, "Budget would cut services, local aid".

Excerpt: State lawmakers last night completed a $27.6 billion budget plan for next fiscal year that would cut local aid for cities and towns, require all government offices to remain open on Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day, and impose a softer crackdown on illegal immigrants than the measure approved by senators last month.

A group of six House and Senate negotiators had been hammering out the final budget, which includes a broad range of policy and spending plans, behind closed doors since June 7, trying to reconcile differences between plans passed earlier this year by the two legislative bodies.

But the lawmakers were thrown off course in recent days as they were forced to plug an additional $687 million gap to account for federal stimulus money that had been expected to keep some state programs afloat, but is now far from certain to arrive.

Boston Public Library's Catch-22: The City of Boston also stands to lose at least $2.4 million more in library funding if, as planned, it closes four branches during the next budget year. The Legislature’s compromise plan includes language taking that money away to prevent closings, even though the city says it is forced to close the branches largely because state funding has been declining in recent years.