City Hall
Parks and Libraries Outline Budget Cuts
There weren't many bombshells at this morning's presentations on the city's parks and libraries budget---just more of the same bad news (fewer community center hours, a continuation of the library's already slash-and-burn budget, renewed furloughs, and entire days when branch libraries will be closed), along with a fairly dismal outlook for the future.
Overall, parks revenues are down about 1.9 percent, requiring the department to cut about three positions. The biggest cuts will be to the Seattle Aquarium, whose budget will decline 19.5 percent in 2012 from the previously adopted level; recreation facilities and programs, whose budget will go down 8.8 percent; and parks planning and acquisition, which will go down 8.9 percent.
As part of its cost-cutting strategy (which includes, as we've reported, reducing hours at many community centers while increasing hours at centers that are most heavily utilized), parks will also start charging for parking at South Lake Union Park, reduce reliance on public funds at the Volunteer Park Conservatory (parks director Christopher Williams said the goal was to reduce city support for the conservatory to between 40 and 60 percent); and finally build the Belltown Community Center through a public-private partnership with the YMCA and the Associated Recreation Council.
While McGinn's proposal for the library system doesn't include any major new cuts from last year, that's not saying a lot: The library system's budget has already been cut to the bone, with the entire system shut down for a week each summer and many branch libraries closed entirely on Fridays and Sundays. Compared to 2009, the library's branches are open 190 fewer hours per week. Compared to 2010, the budget for buying new materials is down 14 percent. Compared to the 2011 adopted budget, the budget for capital improvements at the library is down 22 percent.
Those budget levels, council president Richard Conlin said today, are "not adequate to maintain the central library and the 26 branch libraries over the long term." With many branch libraries nearing 10 years old, library CFO Marilynne Gardner told the council, the system could be at the point where spending money now saves much more money later.
Jonah will have a report on the police budget, which SPD chief John Diaz presented this afternoon, soon. Up tomorrow: the Human Services Department, Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Office of Sustainability and the Environment, Neighborhoods, Personnel, Information Technology, and Civil Rights.
Overall, parks revenues are down about 1.9 percent, requiring the department to cut about three positions. The biggest cuts will be to the Seattle Aquarium, whose budget will decline 19.5 percent in 2012 from the previously adopted level; recreation facilities and programs, whose budget will go down 8.8 percent; and parks planning and acquisition, which will go down 8.9 percent.
As part of its cost-cutting strategy (which includes, as we've reported, reducing hours at many community centers while increasing hours at centers that are most heavily utilized), parks will also start charging for parking at South Lake Union Park, reduce reliance on public funds at the Volunteer Park Conservatory (parks director Christopher Williams said the goal was to reduce city support for the conservatory to between 40 and 60 percent); and finally build the Belltown Community Center through a public-private partnership with the YMCA and the Associated Recreation Council.
While McGinn's proposal for the library system doesn't include any major new cuts from last year, that's not saying a lot: The library system's budget has already been cut to the bone, with the entire system shut down for a week each summer and many branch libraries closed entirely on Fridays and Sundays. Compared to 2009, the library's branches are open 190 fewer hours per week. Compared to 2010, the budget for buying new materials is down 14 percent. Compared to the 2011 adopted budget, the budget for capital improvements at the library is down 22 percent.
Those budget levels, council president Richard Conlin said today, are "not adequate to maintain the central library and the 26 branch libraries over the long term." With many branch libraries nearing 10 years old, library CFO Marilynne Gardner told the council, the system could be at the point where spending money now saves much more money later.
Jonah will have a report on the police budget, which SPD chief John Diaz presented this afternoon, soon. Up tomorrow: the Human Services Department, Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Office of Sustainability and the Environment, Neighborhoods, Personnel, Information Technology, and Civil Rights.
