Mayor Mike McGinn released his proposed city budget for 2011 – 2012 on Monday, addressing the $67 million dollar shortfall in the City’s General Fund for 2011. The proposed budget calls for the Wallingford wading pool to operate on a three day per week schedule next summer, similar to this year’s schedule. The closest wading pool to operate seven days per week will be Green Lake.
The proposed budget also calls for reducing “on-site librarian reference service in order to achieve operational efficiencies and staff savings.” The Wallingford Library branch will stay open for 35 hours per week to provide access to computers, pickup for anything on hold, and collection drop off. Library fees will go up, including the daily fine rate. We can also expect to see another week-long closure around the Labor Day holiday.
As we reported last week, there’s still a chance to let your voice be heard with regard to the proposed budget:
- Check out the Ideascale to share your thoughts
- Submit your comments online here
- Attend to the public hearing:
Wednesday, September 29 (closest meeting to Wallingford)
Northgate Community Center Gym
10510 5th Ave NE, 98125
5 p.m. Sign-in, 5:30 p.m. Public Hearing
Go to that website and vote. I did.
There is an option to reduce funding for SHARE.
While I am sad to see library budgets decrease and I so appreciate the help and customer service over many years at the Wallingford Library- it no longer has BOOKS! I see reducing its hours as reasonable.
The mayor’s plans also includes no longer having an on-site librarian at the Fremont Public library.
http://www.fremontuniverse.com/2010/09/27/fremont-library-impacted-by-mayors-proposed-budget/
I thought Wallyhooders might like to know…since the library, while techincally in Fremont, is used by people in lower Wallingford.
Oops…sorry! Scanned the headling about the pool and didn’t catch the second paragraph. Bad multi-taksing, bad! 🙂
What a sad situation–libraries without librarians in them. Just another way our economic system and the crisis it has created is sucking the life out of us. Once we are convinced that we can no longer afford luxuries like libraries and librarians, what’s next…and where are the living wage jobs for our children and grandchildren going to be?
Don’t worry. No matter how bad things get, our children will still have our marvelous pro sports teams to look up to. heh.