FAYETTEVILLE -- The budget for Arkansas' coming fiscal year would slice $1 million from state aid to public libraries, but legislators said they hope to bandage the cuts.
About $5.7 million in grants have gone to public libraries each year since 2010, according to the Arkansas State Library, which distributes the money. That would decrease to about $4.7 million under the Revenue Stabilization Act the General Assembly approved Wednesday.
The change likely means area libraries will lose thousands or tens of thousands of dollars starting this summer, money that would have been spent on books, DVDs, programs for children and adults and special events, library directors said.
"It's very, very disappointing," said Judy Casey, head of the Rogers Public Library, which stands to lose $20,000 or so if the cuts are spread proportionately between all public libraries. Programs and materials will likely absorb the cut, she said. "And that hurts, because those should be the biggest priorities," Casey said.
The cut's a small percentage of the library's overall $1.8 million budget, but most of that is for salaries and facility costs, leaving a fraction of the budget to absorb the loss, Casey said, echoing other directors.
Beyond the dollar amount, library leaders also said the cut signalled libraries' falling priority in state politicians' minds.
"That's why people stand up and say 'Wait, no, this isn't just a cut to an agency, this is a cut to our community," said Mindy Hodges, chief fiscal officer for the state library. "What's alarming is that for a lot of libraries around the state, it (the state aid) is a lifeline."
The $5.2 billion state budget would increase by several million dollars from this year's, but the library decrease is one of several budget cuts to some departments. Grants for community health centers went down several million dollars as well, for example.
"It's all part of the prioritization process," State Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, said Wednesday. The budget's sending more money to prisons and public education means something else has to give, he added. "It's really all one animal."
Several library leaders also blamed the cut at least partly on income tax cuts passed during this session, particularly a capital gains tax cut that will exempt half of capital gains from income taxes by next July.
The state aid brings about $100,000 annually to each of the public libraries in Springdale and Rogers, their directors said. Fayetteville's library gets more than $140,000 of its $4 million budget from the state and could lose almost $30,000, director David Johnson said. The Fayetteville library sent a letter this week to its members urging them to ask their representatives to support public libraries.
"It's just more dollars that we have to account for," Johnson said. "It's frustrating that our state legislators have expressed lack of priority for libraries across the state."
The hit to Fayetteville is still more disruptive because of ongoing financial concerns, Johnson said. The library for months has been searching for new sources of income to handle rising use and costs. A stalled plan to expand the library has loomed over those discussions, and the state cut is "just another complication," Johnson said.
Bentonville doesn't dedicate property taxes to its library and so is not eligible for the state aid.
State Sen. Jake Files, R-Fort Smith, pushed for the capital gains tax break but said Wednesday he "hated that it looks like it was a straight exchange" between the tax cut and the budget cuts.
"I would have preferred that the cuts be made in other areas, but it was very difficult to try to balance so many competing interests and still try to accomplish the objectives of 135 members at the same time," Files wrote in an email. "I would hope that we could try to find ways to replace that revenue for the libraries as they perform such a vital role in our communities."
Collins agreed, saying he and other legislators want to make up the difference with other spending. In one scenario, money for the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District could then be distributed as grants to public libraries that apply, he said.
"I know I'm going to be keeping a very close eye on libraries, specifically in Fayetteville certainly, to try to minimize the impact," Collins said. "Our hope is we're going to be able to find a way to address that."
NW News on 04/02/2015