Book Worms
Bracing for the looming budget season, library leaders have already begun rolling out dire scenarios that warn of multiple branch closings and layoffs if the county doesn’t come off the hip with at least flat funding.
This from a library system that saw its budget reduced by $10 million this year, but still received $21 million – an amount so paltry it compelled library brass to layoff employees, shutter three branches and reduce operating hours at others. Twenty-one million dollars and they’re still howling poverty.
This is largely because most libraries in Mecklenburg County are no longer libraries, at least not in the traditional sense. Thanks to an insanely expensive and extravagant capital program, they’ve become turbo-charged media centers that offer everything from coffee bars and social centers to computer games and pricey public art. And then they wonder why they don’t have money for books and reading programs for kids. Go figure.
In any case, early projections from library officials signal they can get by with minimal staff layoffs and no further branch closings, if they receive flat funding from the county. A 10-percent cut could mean up to 10 additional branches would have to close, with the number jumping to a dozen, along with more layoffs, under a 20-percent funding cut.
Meanwhile, a special task force is puzzling over ways to help the library system improve services and contain costs. The task force, of course, needs a quarter of a million dollars to accomplish its mission.
One obvious place to start – the system’s top-heavy and handsomely compensated executive staff: Library Director Charles Brown receives an annual base salary of about $170,974 and a total compensation package of $206,069; Director of Library Experiences David Singleton, base salary of $119,025 and a total compensation package of $146,890; Director of Community Engagement Karen Beach, base salary $82,296/total compensation $103,148; Director of Research, Innovation & Strategy Frank Blair, base salary $93,370 and total compensation $121,759; Director of Organizational Research Brain Beavers, base pay $82,697 and total compensation $102,025.
But those front-line librarians and more books for kids; well, they’ve got to go, right, if the library system doesn’t get more money.
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