Gilroy
– A $1.1 million county library budget shortfall means South
County residents no longer will be able to enjoy the library on
Mondays.
Gilroy – A $1.1 million county library budget shortfall means South County residents no longer will be able to enjoy the library on Mondays.
Beginning Oct. 11, the Gilroy Public Library at 7387 Rosanna St. will operate Tuesday through Saturday only, whereas it now operates Monday through Saturday. Morgan Hill’s library also will be closed Mondays. A unanimous vote on Thursday by the Santa Clara County Library Joint Powers Authority decided closing Mondays was the best way to compensate for the deficit.
Lani Yoshimura, community library supervisor at Gilroy’s library, received the news with mixed emotions.
“The good news is there will be no lay offs at this time, and we can continue to provide the same quality of services,” she said. “But it is significant for all libraries in the system. Any time you have to close a day like this, it’s going to affect customers.”
A state-implemented budget cut cost the county library system more than 40 percent of its operating budget in 1994. A subsequent measure passed that year, scheduled to end in June, established a $33 per-single-family parcel tax to support the system. JPA board members attempted in March to pass another measure to extend funding, but the vote fell just short of the required two-thirds approval.
Another ballot measure to extend the parcel tax might be attempted in November but most likely will get pushed to next year, said Gilroy City Councilman and JPA board member Bob Dillon. Although the need for the funding is definitely there, Dillon said securing the tax might be difficult.
Deputy County Librarian Sarah Flowers estimated another failed ballot measure could cost the system as much as $5.3 million.
For the Gilroy library, Yoshimura said a lack of renewed funds most likely would mean additional staff cuts as well as fewer hours.
Additionally, about 40 vacancies across the system intentionally have gone unfilled until library supervisors have a clearer idea of the system’s future funding, Yoshimura said. At Gilroy’s library, one clerk position was eliminated in July and one clerk position remains vacant.
Morgan Hill City Councilman Steve Tate, who is Morgan Hill’s representative on the JPA, said he had some good news and some bad, at the Sept. 1 council meeting.
“The good news is that, with $2.4 million saved from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger exempting libraries from the tax shift, there will be no layoffs,” Tate said.
The news comes just as both Gilroy and Morgan Hill officials began devising plans for new facilities, for which they recently applied for state construction grants. Additionally, Yoshimura said, Gilroy’s library has seen an upsurge since the economic downturn, as people try to cut costs at home by canceling Internet service or not buying as many books and magazines.
Upon hearing the news, a library patron researching on the Internet at Gilroy’s branch Tuesday said he didn’t think one day of closure per week would pose too much of an inconvenience for patrons.
“For me, to be able to come here at night when I need to get work done, or on the weekends, is really nice,” he said.
The vote affects all the county’s libraries in Campbell, Cupertino, Los Altos, Milpitas, Morgan Hill and Saratoga, as well as the bookmobile and the Alum Rock and Woodland branches. For more information, visit the county’s library system Web site at www.santaclaracountylib.org.
