THUNDER BAY - The Thunder Bay Public Library is asking the public to provide feedback on the value of libraries in the community as it reports facing a potential 15 per cent cut to its capital budget.
“To ask the library to take this budget cut after years of underfunding, years of cuts, increases in expenditures, we think elected officials need to hear community input on this,” said Thunder Bay Public Library CEO Richard Togman.
According to Togman, the library was informed by the city manager’s office that administration will likely recommend a 15 per cent cut to the library’s capital budget in 2023, equalling approximately $120,000.
“This isn’t just a little hair trim or belt tightening during regular budget season,” he said. “This is a body blow to the organization. We are really struggling to understand the 15 per cent number and the volume of cuts aimed specifically at library services.”
A survey published on the TBPL website and emailed to library card holders on Thursday asked for public input on library funding and services. It has already received hundreds of responses, according to Togman.
He said the purpose of the survey is to allow the public to respond to the proposed budget cut and to let elected officials know how the community feels about library services in the city.
“It is not up to us as the library to determine the city’s budget, it’s the people and the elected officials,” he said. “I expect a lot of city councillors may be surprised by the level of support the library really has. I don’t think they would be considering this level of cut or that administration would even be recommending it if they knew how much the community really supports it.”
The 2023 city budget has not yet been released publicly. Members of city council are expected to receive the budget in December before deliberations begin early in the new year.
Togman said this year is not an exception when it comes to funding shortfalls and the library has often experienced cuts to its budget, but 15 per cent is unprecedented.
“There has been a trend over the last decade in terms of underfunding the library. The data we have shows that over the last 15 years, after we account for inflation, there has only been a 0.02 per cent increase in the library’s operating budget,” Togman said.
“We know the library’s capital budget has been cut a number of times over the past years. So we are in a situation where we’ve had successive cuts over past budget cycles and now we are being asked for an even larger cut, something relatively unprecedented, In my memory the library has never been asked to take this much of a cut ever before.”
Togman added that if the library continues to receive successive cuts of this magnitude year after year, the library board will have to start making some very difficult decisions, which could include the closure of one of the neighbourhood branches.
“This level of funding is simply not sustainable if the city wants to have an effective, safe, and productive library service,” he said. “If this cut does go through, there will be some extremely painful decisions the library board will have to make. I don’t want to speak on behalf of the board or what they will decide, but it won’t be pretty.”
City manager Norm Gale was unavailable for an interview on Friday, but in a statement sent to Dougall Media, he said he was aware of the library survey and that the upcoming budget will be very challenging.
“It may be that other City-funded boards also appeal to the community to influence the difficult decisions Council must make,” the statement reads. “Council will be supported to fully consider the complexity of distributing tax payers’ hard-earned dollars to pay for the programs, services, emergency services, and infrastructure residents use and rely on every day.”
The survey will be available on the Thunder Bay Public Library website for approximately two weeks. Togman is encouraging those concerned to submit their responses as soon as possible.
