Today’s Pensacola News Journal reports that the City of Pensacola, who runs the public library system for Escambia County, is considering further cuts ($972,000) to the library budget. The cuts would shutdown all libraries on Mondays. The City would shutdown all branches but the ancient, dilapidated downtown main library on Tuesdays. Book purchases would be reduced and so would bookmobile stops.
Escambia County has a literacy problem. Reading is a skill that helps someone rise out of poverty. A literate, educated work force attracts employers to the area. The fact that our people work cheap no longer works in luring businesses here, because even cheaper labor can be found overseas.
Forego employee raises, reduce benefits and save the libraries…in fact invest more into them. Otherwise, we might as well close them.
Note: In the 2006-07 budget, the City charged the West Florida Library system $249,600 for overhead.