March 7, 2013
Around Town By Neal Tepel
DC 37 Calls for 2.5% of existing citywide property tax assessments to be allocated for permanent, baseline library funding.
District Council 37, has joined its four library locals — Quasi-Public Employees Local 374, Queens Library Guild Local 1321, Brooklyn Library Guild Local 1482 and New York Public Library Guild Local 1930 — in a campaign for permanent baseline funding for New York City’s public library systems. They will rally and speak out at City Hall, then testify at a preliminary budget hearing before the City Council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations.
The unions are introducing city legislation to allocate 2.5% of existing citywide property tax assessments for dedicated, baseline public library funding. This would free the library systems, staff and patrons from the annual round of budget cuts and restorations that now take place and allow for more stable delivery of services to communities citywide, which are using public libraries at a steadily increasing rate.
Public libraries add value to a neighborhood, with property values going up when a library is located nearby. Returning some of this value to maintaining public libraries would provide a consistent funding source and would also conserve the resources that libraries, staff and patrons must now expend each year to fight for restoration of proposed budget cuts.
Rally at City Hall on Friday, March 8, 2013 at 9:00AM
