Dan Walters discovered that Governor Brown was not a supporter of public libraries in 1981. And it seems his position hasn’t changed.
He’s once again whacking away at their budgets, threatening to leave the cities and counties holding the bill.
While libraries have traditionally been the financial responsibility of the localities, they have been fighting for more funding from the state. So far, they’ve managed to carve out some $30 million from the state’s $90 billion budget.
Substantial. But if history is destined to repeat itself, that means that horse racers will be $24 million richer, and community libraries will be $30 million poorer.
From the Sacramento Bee:
It is, as the inimitable Yogi Berra observed, “deja vu all over again.”
Some 31 years ago, advocates of local libraries persuaded the California Legislature to appropriate $18 million to save them from wholesale shutdowns.
Libraries had traditionally been financed by city and county governments, but in the wake of Proposition 13, the 1978 property tax limit initiative, local governments had slashed spending for libraries.
Read the full article here.