Gary Public Library Looking at 50% Budget Cut

Link to December 12 Post-Tribune article,"No good options for Gary libraries".

Excerpt: The Gary Public Library system likely will see its 2011 budget cut from about $6.4 million to $3.2 million. The system still has more than $3 million in reserves, but the board is reluctant to tap into those funds.

The system now includes six branches, with one, the Tolleston branch, closed due to mold and water problems. That branch is likely to stay closed, but the board still struggles with operating the rest on plummeting tax revenues, board president Tony Walker said.

"None of us, I think, enjoy the prospects of having to reduce the footprint of the library from six branches to, quite possibly, four branches," he said.

Such are the harsh budgetary realities the library system is facing, given property tax caps and poor tax collection rates that have libraries, municipalities and other taxing districts scrambling for ways to continue their operations, Walker said.