Toronto Public Library approves $1.3 million in cuts

Cross-posted from Eye Daily

Deferring the vote to increase the land-transfer and vehicle-registration taxes was a bad idea, says Councillor Maria Augimeri, who supported the deferal July 16. The North York councillor hopes to reopen the issue when Council reconvenes in September. Whether she’ll be successful or not is questionable — reopening any vote requires support from two-thirds of city council.

“I thought the provincial parties would come out in strong support of Toronto. Call me naà¯ve,” Augimeri is quoted as saying in the Toronto Star.

Augimeri is also on the board of the Toronto Public Library (TPL), which, just this morning, approved $1.23 million in cuts to staff, services and programs for the rest of 2007 (from September to December, to be exact).

It’s worth pointing out that Toronto’s library system — named the world’s second most used public library by circulation after Hong Kong — had already cut the equivalent of 200 full time staff members since amalgamation despite total activity increasing by over 30 percent.

The newly approved cost-saving measures came as a result of Mayor David Miller’s declaration — made the day after the vote to defer the proposed new taxes won — that all city divisions and agencies, boards and committees find ways cut their costs. TPL is one of the first agencies to approve cuts, and they aren’t pretty. They include:

• a hiring freeze, which will affect staffing of service desks, program delivery, training sessions and branch closures. For example, the planned re-opening of the Jane-Dundas branch (which received 11,500 visitors a month) won’t happen until 2008 now.

• the elimination of Sunday service in all libraries, excluding those in priority neighbourhoods.

• a $330,000 cut to the library materials budget (which is equivalent to the entire adult book budget for 12 branches, or the entire children’s book budget for 25 branches).

“This is a terrible day for the Toronto Public Library and the people of Toronto who depend on the services we provide — specifically children, youth, seniors, people living in poverty and newcomers,” says library board member Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler. The public will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the kind of cuts they might endure in 2008.

Should Toronto find the cash it’s so desperately looking for (be it through the eventual use of revenue tools, property tax increases or — fingers crossed — provincial uploading), TPL should be able to reverse the cuts that it has agreed to make today, says Chaleff-Freudenthaler, adding “it will take time for the system to recover.”

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photo by Michale Clesle