The state library system plans to cut hours to five days a week at most libraries and end its Bookmobile program to comply with budget tightening under Gov. Linda Lingle's administration, officials said. Budget cuts may reduce
hours at most libraries
By Susan Essoyan
sessoyan@starbulletin.comBut librarians expressed relief yesterday that they would not have to close libraries yet because the state Department of Budget & Finance agreed to reduce the size of the proposed budget cut to $500,000 from $1 million.
Lingle's administration has asked state departments to trim spending by 5 percent between now and the end of the fiscal year, June 30. Although the library system has determined how to cope with its cut, the Department of Education as a whole is still figuring out where to trim its spending.
School-level operations were exempt from the 5 percent restriction, so the proposed reduction amounts to $3 million for the rest of the department, excluding the libraries, said Edwin Koyama, budget director for the school system.
"We are looking at all our options carefully," Koyama said yesterday. "Budget & Finance is giving us some leeway as to where we propose to obtain the funds. We plan to present our proposals to the Board of Education budget committee soon."
The $1 million cut first proposed for the library system would have meant closing some of the public libraries now operating on school campuses, said Keith Fujio, administrative services officer for libraries.
"The only way we could have met it in this fiscal year was to close facilities," Fujio said yesterday. "When you do a cut in the middle of the fiscal year, it translates into more than a 5 percent cut."
Library officials explained the situation Thursday at a meeting with the Department of Budget & Finance, and the proposed cut was reduced to $500,000. The library system's budget totals $23 million.
The libraries will also cut back spending on books and materials for the rest of this fiscal year to help meet the goal, Fujio said, and end their Bookmobile service. The Bookmobiles are traveling libraries that serve remote sections of the islands, including Molokai and the Big Island, as well as preschools. Their three full-time staff members will be transferred, he said.
State budget officers warned library administrators to plan for further cuts next year, Fujio said.
"At least this gives us some breathing room to come up with a better thought-out plan, rather than trying to do it midstream," he said.
State Librarian Virginia Lowell presented the proposed cuts to the state Board of Education at its meeting Thursday night in Pahoa, and they were approved.
State Public Library System
State Department of Education
