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BOULDER, Colo. -
The people who run Boulder's library system are grappling with budget cuts that could require them to close the book on the popular Meadows branch.
Like every city department, the library has been asked to come up with ways to save money in the face of sagging sales-tax figures.
Officials have already cut $3.6 million from this year's city budget and are looking for ways to trim millions more in case the revenue picture doesn't improve. They say they hope never to make those cuts, but they need to have options should the budget picture remain bleak.
Tony Tallent, the library's director, said he doesn't have many options when he looks for large line-items in his department's $6.9 million budget.
One of the largest is the library's Meadows branch. Closing it would save $306,000 a year in operational costs and employees' salaries.
Tallent and other library and city officials stress that Meadows â one of the city's four library branches, including the Carnegie historical library â hasn't been picked for possible closure because it's a bad library. It's popular: According to library statistics, the branch saw 110,323 visitors last year, just 200 fewer than the George Reynolds branch.
"Sadly enough, it's the biggest thing we have to offer up, as one clean, itemized budget item," Tallent said. "It's a well-loved branch â but that doesn't have anything to do with it."
Nonetheless, Tallent said, the Meadows Branch is a bit of an odd duck. Its home is a building a developer donated to the city 20 years ago, and it's tucked behind a strip mall off of the 4800 block of Baseline Road. Most critically, the city doesn't own the building â and its 20-year lease expires this year.
"That means we've got to make a decision," Tallent said, which could include negotiating a year-to-year lease â or closing the doors.
His budget submission to the city also included shorter-term, smaller cuts, such as hiring freezes and some layoffs â and listed suggestions for ways to spend some of that money on services that would make the library more effective, he said.
'Really an asset'
As he walked out of the Meadows branch Friday afternoon, borrowed book in hand, Keith Kohnen said he'd miss his library if it closed. He and his wife moved to Frasier Meadows, a retirement community, and Kohnen said he loves having a full library just a block away from where he lives.
Kohnen said he likes its ambiance, its friendly staff. He walks to the library a few times a month to check out books, or to look up data in a hard-to-find financial journal that his investing club uses. In fact, his club used to meet in one of the library's rooms, but the competition for space was fierce, and the club found other accommodations.
"This is certainly a well-used library," he said. Inside, on a quiet Friday afternoon, there are plenty of people sitting at computers, browsing the Internet and tucked into quiet corners reading. "It's really an asset to us."
Steve Clason, who serves on the city's Library Commission, said it's tough to cut any services. But, he said, people in charge of stewarding the public's resources need to face reality: If the budget dries up, something's got to give.
"For a town of 100,000, we can get by fine with just a central library," said Clason, who himself lives in south Boulder and regularly visits the George Reynolds facility. "I really like the branches. But when it comes down to crunch time, we don't really need them."
That also fits with the "narrow and deep" approach that city departments as a whole have been told to take when grappling with budget cuts.
Clason said he wears two hats when he looks at the budget. One is that of a library booster â someone who thinks city leaders ought to do everything they can to support a vital civic institution.
But, he said, the library is a part of the city, which has greater obligations.
"Yeah, the library's important. It's really important to me, it's objectively important in the community, but it's not the most important thing," he said, citing police and fire departments as services he wants to make sure stay whole. "My objective is to provide the city manager with information and options she needs to make a decision about what we can afford to fund and what we can't."
Not on the block yet
City Manager Jane Brautigam, who's been collecting suggestions for program cuts and ways to save money from every department, said the city will schedule special meetings to give the public a chance to weigh in on those suggestions in late April or early May.
She and other officials have been reluctant to discuss other suggested cuts, but the proposed library cutbacks were aired at a public Library Commission meeting.
Brautigam emphasized that all of the suggested cuts are just proposals. While some cutbacks are inevitable, the most drastic â such as closing the library branch â might not happen at all if the city's revenue picture brightens.
But, she said, should economic woes continue, it only makes sense for city leaders to examine as many ways to save money as possible.
"We need to have a Plan B, in which we say, if things get really bad, what are the next level of things we'd want to look at?" she said. "We'll just have to wait and see. It's not like things are going to be on the chopping block right away."
Maybe we could use some of the sidewalk stimulus money to help the library???
InsipidPhenom
3/6/2009 10:11:30 PM
Bad decision making if the library is closed.
msw3410
3/6/2009 10:19:36 PM
This is a perfect example of why you should be wary of general sales tax increases.We passed two tax increases in November, including one that was a continuation of a levy specifically identified for supporting the library.
Now that these tax revenues go into the city slush fund, we find that the funds are slushing away from one of our most important and cherished services -- the library.
I'm not impressed by the new library director's point that the Meadows branch is a large line item -- $300,000 a year -- and so that makes it easier to cut.What kind of schizophrenic process is this?In the last few years there has been discussion about a new branch in North Boulder and now they want to wipe out a branch?
How the economic crisis is news to the budget analysts in Boulder is hard to understand.We've been in a recession for over a year and Boulder has not been hit near as hard as other cities across the country.
I implore the library director and board to find some other solution here.I hope this is not some transparent appeal setting the stage for another tax increase request.
They say we get the government we all deserve.I'm still wondering what I've done.
eltamarindo
3/6/2009 10:39:08 PM
hmmm..so City of Boulder closes the library to save money because of budget cuts. People who work at the library, lose their jobs. Yet, in another article, City of Boulder is building new sidewalks to accommodate people with wheelchairs because Boulder is just bustling with wheelchair individuals all over...hmmmm...bollocks!
I would say use some of that money to help the library survive and those people keep their jobs. Scrap the sidewalk idea. I'm sorry but the sidewalk plan is sh*t. I would much rather see that stimulus money being used for the schools than stupid upgrading of sidewalks. This town is getting nuttier each day.
theIrishMan
3/6/2009 11:25:38 PM
' This is a perfect example of why you should be wary of general sales tax increases. We passed two tax increases in November, including one that was a continuation of a levy specifically identified for supporting the library.
Now that these tax revenues go into the city slush fund, we find that the funds are slushing away from one of our most important and cherished services -- the library. '
yeah !read the fine print on open space and outlots...the 'transfer of density' rights have the same clause...
rip off artists.Come on voters wise up and dont vote for these taxes increases
JakPott
3/7/2009 12:20:02 AM
Hey Ken Dubs ... would you rather water a lake or pay for a third of a library that has 110,000 visitors per year?
I really hope that 35,000 *additional* people will be enjoying Thunderbird Lake this year so that I don't have to keep pointing out that you suck the life out of everything you touch.
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/feb/17/boulder-water-lake-sprinkler-system-burke/
(That said, perhaps libraries are becoming less important due to a certain technological change that happened sometime between 1990 and now.)
Kev_H
3/7/2009 12:28:47 AM
Just about every tax increase, whatever is is supposed to be "for," contains language that the money can be used for other purposes, etc.
If everyone always voted "no" on these, the whole system might become more honest. But that isn't going to happen.
So should the individual voter vote for increases that are supposed to go to activities he/she supports, or not?
randy_katz
3/7/2009 6:50:27 AM
I have never been able to find this place it is hidden..
(maybe that is why no one goes)
Bad location, they should move it if it survives.
sidd
3/7/2009 7:07:22 AM
Ask the folks in Superior to help fund it.Oh wait, I forgot, they think the "free library" runs on pixie dust and wishes.
bobmobber@hotmail.com
3/7/2009 7:36:52 AM
here's an idea--quit wasting $100,000 on a house size limits study whose outcome was predetermined and whose regulation is entirely unnecessary.And give us back our library!
NotInMyName
3/7/2009 7:40:40 AM
"Maybe we could use some of the sidewalk stimulus money to help the library???"
Doesn't work that way, but not surprising people would think this like this.
blueman
3/7/2009 7:44:37 AM
Pay to Play - $3 a visit would pay for it.
Probably should be 110K "Visits" not visitors.I wonder how many unique visitors that is?10K?20K?
Stephen@Haydel.com
3/7/2009 8:12:51 AM
Don't look for one large budget line item to cut. Instead, trim carefully and keep the libraries open. Utilize volunteers for things like children's storytime and eliminate non-critical programs. Citizens need access to books during a recession! Find another location for the Meadows branch or negotiate aggressively with the landlord -- it's a tenant's market.
AlohaBoulder
3/7/2009 8:19:05 AM
This is a great library with GREAT staff, I hope we find a way to keep it open.
climb678
3/7/2009 8:47:27 AM
"Citizens need access to books during a recession!"
I agree.Great library.Great staff (always helpful).Keep it open.
eadavis79@yahoo.com
3/7/2009 8:51:10 AM
"Find another location for the Meadows branch or negotiate aggressively with the landlord -- it's a tenant's market."
Maybe Tebo would lower the rent for you.After buying the Boulder Junior Academy for 4 million in about 2004 and selling it a couple years later for 10 million, he may have more than just coins.
lynn_segal_aka_lds
3/7/2009 9:10:05 AM
Now is agood time for pay cuts for the vastly overpaid management ranks, and some non-management jobs too, throughout the city bureaucracy. These people need to get some skin in the game. If they are unhappy about giving up a small part of their overstuffed paychecks for the good of the city let them move on.The priority must be keeping the library and other valuable city programs going. As Joe Biden said, its the patriotic thing to do.
strike3
3/7/2009 9:14:33 AM
I always appreciate reading the input on library related articles - as a City of Boulder library commissioner myself, I encourage any of you who are interested in what is happening to come to our open library commission meetings, the first Wednesday of each month. Your input is valuable and our budget and master plan are open to the public. I think what's missing from the explanation in this article of the choice to offer Meadows is the fact that during the last big budget crisis, the library made what we thought were "temporary" cuts that were largely invisible to the public. We are operating on a budget that is roughly $800,000 below the minimum amount we need - what we call our Fiscally Constrained plan. We literally have very little left to give and have preserved our branches as long as possible from years (for the library) of difficult economic times. -Nadia Haddad, Library Commissioner
eastdakota
3/7/2009 9:26:03 AM
Furlough city employees 1 day a week and open a North Branch. Didn't we ALL know this was coming? Wasn't September 11 enough of a message?
lynn_segal_aka_lds
3/7/2009 9:29:07 AM
Steve Clason has no business being on the Library Commission.For someone in that role to say "we can get by just fine with just a central library" and "we really don't need (the branches)" is sheer lunacy.
All three of the branches of the library are among the best public institutions this community has to offer. They need to be defended and supported and not just brushed of as superfluous - especially by a suppossed library commissioner. Just incredible.
strike3
3/7/2009 9:41:16 AM
"...move on. The priority must be keeping the library and other valuable city programs going...:
No, people(employees, who have families too by the way) ARE more important than programs that might be cut.
comcast777
3/7/2009 9:44:12 AM
I frequent Meadows and the other branches on a very regular basis, and would hate to lose any one of them.It'd be a true shame if it closed.I'd be willing to put in some amount of money to keep this branch open.I'd like to hope the citizens of Boulder would do the same.
bkardon@gmail.com
3/7/2009 9:50:22 AM
George Evans for City Manager:
http://www.selmatimesjournal.com/news/2009/jan/15/city-cuts-employee-salaries/
strike3
3/7/2009 9:51:49 AM
Closer to home:
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11858105
strike3
3/7/2009 10:00:53 AM
The head Librarian makes $149,000 a year.I think that's right.Wow, how about all of our city employees taking huge salary cuts!!??
Boulderitesince1859
3/7/2009 10:01:25 AM
Head Librianian makes $149,000 a year.I think that's right.Wow, how about all of our city employees taking huge salary cuts!!??Won't happen.Boulder has gotten out of control in the last 20 years and working for the government has become the best jobs around.Not what I thought America is suppose to be..
Boulderitesince1859
3/7/2009 10:05:00 AM
The right-wingers should cheer this. They can't stand a well read electorate.
JesusThinksYoureAJerk
3/7/2009 10:08:49 AM
If it gets really bad, Boulder could encourage business to operate there. Otherwise, just double real estate taxes and let rents rise to offset that.
rungreger
3/7/2009 10:31:26 AM
eastdakota - It'd be helpful if you would post the time & location of next commission meeting.
Thank you.
eadavis79@yahoo.com
3/7/2009 10:32:58 AM
If I recall from previous discussions/efforts to close this branch, the cost to rent this space is next to nothing.
friend8
3/7/2009 10:52:45 AM
There are a lot of elderly people that live right around the Meadows location, it would be sad for them to have it close.Also, in this time and day, more people are using the library to save money on buying books.It's a great system.I read a book review, find something on Amazon that sounds great, and then just reserve it online, ride my bike to the library, make a 5 minute stop and go in and pick it up.
saraconrd@pcisys.net
3/7/2009 11:04:03 AM
I think we should raise Meatpie's and Bobscat's taxes to pay for it.
RoseFromTheDead
3/7/2009 12:43:41 PM
For those complaining about how the library administration is handling the city-mandated cuts - may I suggest attending library commission meetings, volunteering at the library and donating to the library before acting as if you know best.Or, go back to school, get your Master of Library Science, and enter the game yourself.And to those individuals suggesting that the Library DIrector makes 149K per year, you are way off.City managerial salaries are public record - please do your research before spreading misinformation.This is a difficult time for most city libraries - and most are facing similar decisions about reduced hours, services, staff and branches.Do you really think ignorant criticism is the best way to support your local library under these conditions?Thank you to our library administration, commission and staff for all they provide to this community, particularly in these tough economic times.
BoulderSouth
3/7/2009 3:40:45 PM
The pressure needs to be put on city council to make sure that the sales tax money that was advertised as as support for the library is actually used to support the library.The city has a long history of raising taxes to support the library and then finding other things to do with the money.The original main library parking lot -- which was promised to be kept as library parking if the voters kept the library downtown (when we had a vote for bonds to expand the library) -- that's been converted to primarily city staff parking.Even spaces in the main library parking lot were stolen for the senior center, and our library parking lot is now dotted with parking pay machines.
The City can come up with an infinite amount of money to restrict floor area ratios, protect prairie dogs, prohibit couches on porches, and blinking pedestrian lights that are likely to get someone killed, but they can't afford to keep the library open?
No -- they're playing the usual game of telling citizens that important services are going to need to be cut, like police, fire and the library, while keeping their pet projects amply funded.
ziggle
3/7/2009 4:03:57 PM
What inspires a town concrete or books -water in a pond or an education?You don't see kids in India or China being passed over for beautification of their city, because their elders VALUE education.You can't even go to the main Library without having to pay for parking.Now they want to close the Library where I get books to read to my 5 year old? What next? I get that my taxes are being squandered - shame on the city council for this.
momluv
3/7/2009 4:13:27 PM
Absolutely, eadavis79:
The next library commission meeting is at 7:15pm on April 1st. They are always on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 7:15pm and usually at the Main branch downtown in the Arapahoe conference room on the 2nd floor. Please double-check the library website before you go just to make sure the location/time hasn't been changed. You should also find information there on how to contact the library commission should you feel so inclined.
http://www.boulder.lib.co.us/about/commission.html
Best, Nadia Haddad - Library Commissioner
eastdakota
3/7/2009 4:22:42 PM
Momluv said,
"You can't even go to the main Library without having to pay for parking"
Thanks for all of the parking fees that you have evidently paid to visit the main library. But duh.... if you'd care to read the signs in the lots, you'll find that parking is free for library customers.
AlmostNative
3/7/2009 4:30:05 PM
Thanks, Almostnative:
http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1833&Itemid=1304
Library patrons using the library during that visit may park for free. 3 hour maximum parking time allowed for both paid and non-paid parking
Reasoned_Response
3/7/2009 8:11:09 PM
The libertarian "free market" Friedmaniacs ought to be cheering wildly over this news.
Uriah_Heep
3/7/2009 9:08:47 PM
I don't understand. Somebody donated the building to the city, but now the city doesn't own it?What happened? Did they sell it and then lease it back?
news@keeters.com
3/7/2009 9:09:47 PM
I gave up on the Boulder Library when they spent my tax money on a bunch of dild0s. Can't remember if that was before or after they decided it was OK for lechers and creeps to surf porn on the library computers or when the library became a second home to a bunch of drunk, stinking street people.
I've got an idea, stop with all the PC garbage trying to serve all of the retro-hippies and concentrate on your core competencies.
mmw303
3/7/2009 9:16:52 PM
mmw303 - so if I understand your position, as a non-user of the library, you want them to toss the 21st century technology (with which you are using to share your comments) and go back to what?Specifically how will that help the financial crisis that they are facing?Share your wisdom with us further.Maybe you could volunteer there and assist the librarians in policing these public facility?
Reasoned_Response
3/7/2009 9:31:39 PM
Meadows branch, the only library within reasonable walk/bike/drive distance is essential to those of us who live here on the east side of Boulder.
I've givenup on the Main library branch; have avoided it for over a decade - the traffic problems of trying to drive through downtown, the population density, parking problems, noise, loitering creeps, & safety issues all make the main branch too unpleasant.
The Meadows & George Reynolds branches are quiet havens for readers, researchers, and other lovers of intellectual & cultural pursuits.
Boulder can find plenty of money-wasters in their budget that could & should be cut.
A good library system with branches to serve the entire population (not just those who live near downtown) is essential for maintaining the high standard of living and continuing education that we enjoy in Boulder.
Roseblossom_@hotmail.com
3/8/2009 11:39:30 AM
uh oh, boulder might lose it' "smartest city" ranking.i dont know how that one came to be anyway.it seems disfunctional that when the city goes through hard times, the first things to go are libraries or staff hours, like in louisville.people just dont value the jobs of librarians anymore...they dont understand.and libraries hire people with years of experience with childeren etc. over a cutting edge education, i don't get it.
lanikai
3/8/2009 2:23:50 PM
blueman - Just pointing out the fact that we are too quick to spend money where it probably isn't really needed.
I think the handicapped should be able to get around town without many complications, but education and reading is also necessary. I also thought it was a bad idea to cut $80,000 from our schools while toying around with the thought of $125,000 being spent on a pathway around a trailer park.
Seems like thinking like this might not be so bad, if you agree with education rather than asthetics....
InsipidPhenom
3/8/2009 4:35:56 PM
I am relatively new to Boulder. I went to the main library once-rather big & seemed unorganized. Also using the computer when mine was down was a really poor setup-no privacy,chair,and in a hallway that made it hard to concentrated. I didn't know there were branches. However, it doesn't look like any are close to Gunbarrel. However, I found the branches on the map and may utilize them. I lived in Superior when I first moved here for a year and thought the Louisville library was good. Rather than close a branch, open one in north Boulder. Let's not loose our status as the one of the most educated town in the nation,and that will happen if children and adults in this economy can't utilize libraries. Our children need quality education and programs at libraries to stimulate mental and social development. I taught school for 10 years and also utilized the library with my own children. They really enjoyed it, and it gave them the gift of loving to read. Both I am proud to say are well educated and have excellent jobs. And we lived in a city that had a high crime rate,poor public schools and other important needs,but they did recognize the importance of the role of the libraries. Maybe some other areas or sacrifices hopefully could be made to preserve this important issue. Perhaps some people could take a slight pay decrease as so many are or maybe others in the community have some ideas. Maybe making parking free and accessibility to the main library better. It seemed like the hall to the library would never end - another entrance? Any one know if Gunbarrel has a library? It wasn't in the phone book. So why are all the branches in South Boulder? Also my brother was in charge of the Kansas City,Mo Public library and then the Law Library in the Courthouse.I know how hard he worked, was appreciated and how much he helped everyone from citizens to lawyers to judges find information. I apparently missed the meeting you had on this topic. Please post the next one. Maybe some ideas are the Stimulus money as someone suggested, a fund raiser and a lot of wealthy people are going to need tax deduction if they are taxed over $250,000. I'm sure the smaller branches are more suited for teachers to take students to - no art work to worry about breaking. I need your services as do many. I can't afford to buy expensive books at this time. Please for everyone's benefit try to work this out. Maybe the main library is too much like a museum/art gallery and needs to downscale to serving as a library or put it in a separate room. Believe me libraries are a priority. It will even keep crime down if people can go to libraries instead of the unemployed worrying and wondering what to do with their time.
Olivia
3/10/2009 3:53:20 AM
