Public library supporters urge state to undo last year's aid cut

Northwest Arkansas' public libraries largely survived last year's $1 million cut in state money with minimal hardship, but library directors said others across the state have been more deeply harmed.

The decrease can't continue another year without bigger consequences, they added.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson's proposed $5.3 billion state budget for the coming fiscal year, unveiled Tuesday, holds library aid at $4.6 million. The money was cut to that level during the 2015 General Assembly, down from about $5.7 million during the 2014-15 fiscal year.

The cut was among several decreases that hit community health centers and other agencies while the overall state budget grew. The reductions helped to offset 2015's $100 million income tax cut. The income tax cut saves about $200 a year for a household making $41,000, the median Arkansas household income according to U.S. Census income data.

Hutchinson said Friday he and other state leaders would take another look at the budget cut.

"Last year's reduction was not part of my original budget and was subsequently made a part of the final budget as a result of negotiation with the Legislature," the governor wrote in an email statement. "I am confident that the adequate funding of libraries will be part of the ongoing budget discussions during the fiscal session this year."

The impact

The cut amounts to thousands or tens of thousands of dollars for individual libraries. Fayetteville Public Library lost about $28,000, for example, and Rogers lost $19,000, according to their directors. State money to Washington County's library system dropped by $50,000.

The amounts are small compared to overall library budgets, which can reach between $2 million and $4 million, but most of the budget goes to salaries and facility expenses, leaving a fraction to absorb the loss, library directors said.

"It all rolls together to make an impact," said State Librarian Carolyn Ashcraft, pointing to libraries across the state that have closed on Sundays, stopped hiring new people and scheduled fewer author and special events. "Every little bit of funding helps."

Northwest Arkansas library directors said the region's relatively healthy economy and several one-time state grants helped soften the blow. Springdale Public Library lost $6,000 and mostly made up for it in growing property taxes and support from the city, said Marcia Ransom, director.

"Yeah, we hated to lose it, but it wasn't the 30, 40, 50 thousand some of the larger libraries might have lost," Ransom said, adding it was still important money. "Losing funding of any kind is a big concern to libraries."

The aid under state law goes only to libraries that have dedicated millages, so Siloam Springs and Bentonville's libraries don't receive it.

Some libraries wound up slightly better than before. Fayetteville and Farmington libraries applied for and won grants from the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District, which distributes state money left over after paying the bills to groups that can help grow the economy. Fayetteville received $30,000 compared with its $28,000 loss, and Farmington's $13,000 grant for its first new computers in a decade blew away its $3,400 cut.

"We've actually added new services. We've added better printing. We've added scanning at no charge," said Rachel Stump, Farmington librarian.

The cuts made applying for the grants all the more urgent, said Stump and Fayetteville director David Johnson. The grants aren't permanent, and there's no guarantee of winning them again.

Regardless of how a library's budget wound up, there's a less tangible loss in the materials and programs they could have bought if state money had remained the same.

"All of our libraries are still growing," said Glenda Audrain, Washington County's library director. "We're making do, but we could do more."

Fayetteville's library cut $300,000 from its budget in the past two years to try to close the gap between revenue and the demand on its services. The library put off maintenance, raised fees, froze pay and made other changes at the recommendation of the board's long-term revenue committee. The library is planning to ask voters this year to increase its 1-mill levy to keep up library programs and cover a possible expansion for the growing number of patrons.

"We felt the long-term revenue committee's responsibility was to cut everything we possibly could, then all of a sudden comes this additional state cut," Johnson said. "We're having to dip into our savings in order to make our budget meet. Any time you make any cut, it has an impact."

Legislators take stances

The Legislature can't give everyone what they want, especially with huge efforts such as the private option for health care, said Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville.

"Everywhere we turn, everybody says we should spend more tax money on fill-in-the-blank: prisons, roads, Medicaid, whatever," Collins said.

He acknowledged libraries' cultural and economic impact, and he told the economic district he supported Fayetteville's request, as did other legislators. But Collins said Arkansas still has a relatively high income tax rate. Reducing medical spending and tort reform, or lowering court penalties against businesses, are other priorities as well.

"What I am not looking for is new places to increase spending," he said.

If the state has $100 million "laying around" for a tax cut, it can afford to support libraries fully, said Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale. He said he voted against last year's budget partly because of the library cut.

"That, to me, would be one of the last places to cut," said Woods, whose mother is a longtime public school librarian. "In principle, there's so many people out there, so many young minds throughout history that the libraries have had a huge impact on their life."

Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville, said the cut came as a surprise at the very end of last year's session.

"Everybody was angry about it," he said. "I don't know what's going to be the outcome, but there's at least a sentiment" to undo the cut. "I'd love to see it happen, and I'd vote for it," he said.

Public libraries can't lobby legislators directly, but the Arkansas Library Association and other groups are looking to formally push for restoring the money, said Hadi Dudley, chairwoman of the association's legislative committee. Dudley also directs Bentonville's library.

"Our communities suffer when libraries decrease public services, eliminate hours, cut book budgets, cancel digital subscriptions and delay technology projects," Dudley wrote in an email.

"We recognize that our request for funding restoration may be met with challenges, but trust that fiscal support for libraries will be of value to elected officials through the lifelong learning opportunities we provide our communities."

NW News on 03/13/2016