Library supporters carried a sign showing the "city scoreboard."
Library officials have already announced several cuts this month.
Hours will be cut at library branches as part of the budget plan.Richard Essex/Eyewitness News
Indianapolis - Unless it sees a major change, the Marion County Library Board knows how the current story will end. There will be huge cuts in staff, few new books available and it will still end up with a budget deficit.
For now, the board will try to save money by cutting hours instead of cutting branches. Monday night's library budget meeting had protestors marching down Market Street because of a five percent cut in the budget.
Demonstrators carried a sign showing the score: Pacers $1.5 million and the library zero. According to fans of the library, a technical foul should be called against the city for giving the Pacers money for a new scoreboard while the library is struggling to make cuts.
"When we have millions of dollars to give to sports teams and not enough to pay educated people to work in libraries helping people," said one library supporter.
To balance the library's books, 30 staff positions are getting cut, in addition to the more than 100 jobs that have already been eliminated. There will be fewer new books on the shelves, as the new material budget is 20 percent less than last year. Branch hours will also be reduced.
"But if we didn't make these changes now, we would be looking at a $4 million deficit in the next few years," said a library board member.
In other words, the cuts are only going to work for the short-term. The library system, like many other property tax-supported entities are having to do with less. In the case of the Marion County Public Library system, the monetary balancing act comes as more and more people are using its services.
"This council should require those extra funds found for the Pacers be allocated to the libraries and it is time our elected officials put our communities first for a change," said another supporter speaking at the meeting.
The final budget will go before the City-County Council in late October.
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