On Tuesday, April 28, the Brentwood City Council will discuss the reduction of extra library hours to offset economic shortfalls resulting in budget cuts due to COVID-19.
According to the city, they are anticipating General Fund reductions of $4 million resulting from COVID-19, with the largest impacts in sales tax, gas tax, and development and permit fees. By reducing the library by 21-hours of operation funded by the City, it will result in a cost savings of $319,200 in Fiscal Year 2020-21.
Currently, the County pays for 35-operational hours while the City of Brentwood funds 21-additional hours so the library can be open later on Saturdays.
If approved, staff will incorporate this into the draft operating budget for the May workshop where they will consider the funding reduction in 2021-22 as well.
Back in November of 2016, the city Council approved Library Construction for up to $13.5 million and ramped up five additional hours with the county at a cost of $27,994 in July of 2017.
Since March 20, the Brentwood Library has been closed, however, Contra Costa Library Services has been transitioning to provide digital and online services. There is no timeline of when libraries will be open and it could last until a vaccine is available—meaning library services may be curtailed indefinitely.
Meeting Details
April 28, 2020 at 7:00 pm
Brentwood City Council meeting
Staff Report: Click here – Item D1
To Submit Public Comments
Please be advised, that in line with social distancing standards, seating will be limited in the Council Chambers to approximately 20 seats. Public comments can also be submitted via e-mail to [email protected].
Should you not have access to e-mail, a voice mail message not longer than 3 minutes can be left at 925.516.5182. Messages received one hour before the meeting will be briefly summarized for the City Council prior to the meeting and made part of the official meeting record.
7 comments
I am appalled that if the Council knows there is a $4 million deficit in the general fund that they would be spending $50k on a poorly crafted food spend by Karen Rarey to buy votes. Now they are cutting $320k for library services? This council is unqualified to make budget decisions and this one takes the cake. The council should not be spending money at this time until the budget is cleaned up from COVID-19 regardless of the want or need.
Hope the public remembers this library fiasco that happened. We were told one cost, only to have it increase by several millions of dollars.
Libraries are obsolete, cut away please. While they are at it. Turn that library into something else.
Only the dumb and ignorant would want to remove libraries where minds flourish and develop imagination.
I don’t know why a Library was built in the first place. These locations are a thing of the past. It’s a waste of money….the money should have been used to built an exercise playground. Libraries only make people lazy who have the need to just sit around all day. Our young are getting fat and our old are on meds due to lack of the lack of exercise. GET UP AND GET MOVING! Libraries are a waste!
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you don’t exercise your mind? What happens if the internet stops working? Google perhaps changing their algorithim to only give you said answers? Be careful what you wish for foolish one.
Libraries are not obsolete. 36,111 people in Brentwood have library cards and since the new Brentwood Library opened in September 2018, 374,274 items have been checked out. Thousands attend the programs for all ages and the computers and meeting rooms are constantly in use. With the economy worse than the great recession, more people than ever are going to need the library services for hunting jobs and education. A reduction in hours will make it more difficult to access these services.
The Brentwood Library has been an amazing resource for me and my two little kids (age 3 and 5). We’ve enjoyed story time with the librarians and often met up with friends there before heading to the park. It’s been so awesome to use this resource as a way to engrain a love of reading in my kids and the Discover and Go program is amazing for single income families like ours to get out and explore with their kids for little to no cost.
It’s a bummer to hear that the library is cutting staff hours, and to those comments above saying it’s worthless- you are so wrong and need to put down your phones and pick up a book 🙂
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