NY Lawmakers Fight Cuts to Library Aid

Assembly expected to override Gov. Pataki's veto of $4.5 million in state aid to libraries

By Kathy Ishizuka -- School Library Journal, 10/1/2004

The New York legislature is set to square off with Governor George Pataki over his decision to veto $4.5 million in state aid to public libraries. The proposed cuts would trim a total of $1.8 billion from the state's $235 billion spending plan and reduce the amount of library funding from $88.9 million to $84.2 million in FY 2004–2005.

Jennifer Morris, chair of the New York Library Association's (NYLA) legislative committee, says her organization is urging members to contact legislators—particularly Republicans who control the Senate—to request an override. State lawmakers have until December 31 to override any of the governor's vetoes.

Meanwhile, state majority leader Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) predicts that lawmakers will override all of Pataki's 195 vetoes to next year's budget when they return to session on September 20.

According to NYLA, the $4.5 million cut to libraries will generate a five-percent reduction in federal Library Services and Technology Act funds, which will affect summer-reading programs and electronic resources at already cash-strapped libraries across the state. Pataki also vetoed $15 million in funding for school districts and their libraries and $450,000 for the New York Public Library's Science, Industry, and Business Library and its portion of a City University of New York initiative that helps high school students prepare for college through extra academic assistance.

Since 1995, New York state funding to schools has increased 47 percent, or $4.7 billion, while library funding has increased only nine percent, or $7.4 million.

In May 2003, the legislature voted to restore $13.3 million in library funds cut by the governor, says NYLA's Executive Director Michael J. Borges. "We are hopeful they will do the same again this year."