State Library board OKs plans for cuts

HELENA — Dave Johnson sat in the reading room in the bottom floor of the Montana State Library on Wednesday, using one of the six free public-access computers to, as he put it, “read National Academy of Science stuff.”

The 82-year-old Helena resident said he comes to the library often and liked to peruse the Wall Street Journal before it was dropped by the library for being too pricey.

He didn’t know that just a few feet away and a few minutes earlier the state Library Commission, after a lengthy and somewhat emotional debate, had just approved staff cuts and other reductions in service to deal with declining state revenues.

His reading room will be moved up to the main floor as the library’s bottom floor will be vacated by the end of July and the number of public access computers will be whittled down to one or two.

“If it gets cut back I’ll be adversely affected,” he said, adding he was “disappointed” that the state Legislature, through Senate Bill 261, chose the route of cuts to deal with the problem.

“It’s a beautiful place to work,” he said.

The state Library Commission voted unanimously to approve cuts for both bills with reductions for House Bill 2 to kick in July 1 and cuts from Senate Bill 261 to be triggered Aug. 15.

If revenue triggers in SB 261 are met, total budget cuts will total $990,691 from the library’s $6 million budget for FY 2018 and FY 2019.

Because of a dip in revenues, under House Bill 2 the library will lose four full–time employees from its staff of 47, including one of its reader advisers with its Talking Book Library program.

The Talking Book Library will merge with the Digital Library and cut the $197,000 resource budget shared by 82 public libraries by half.

Under SB 261, if revenues dip to certain levels, it would lose another eight employees.

Lawmakers created SB 261, a Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund, in the 2017 legislative session. It helps the governor deal with budget reductions when there are revenue shortfalls and, when there are excess funds, to pay down the debt service on bonds for capital projects previously authorized by the legislature.

It leaves just under $200 million in reserves. If revenues are lower than expected, "triggers" would bring automatic cuts across state government and further cuts to specific agencies including the library, historical society and education.

State Librarian Jennie Stapp said the proposed reductions will reverberate throughout the department.

“While it looks like the cuts are targeted, they will impact all programs,” she said.

When asked what it will mean to other state agencies who use the library programs, Stapp said “Our immediate response is we don’t know, but we’re trying to figure it out.

“We’re not very good at saying ‘no’ to people.”

The commission debated the merits of a suggestion by board member Kenning Artlitsch to consider a fee for some of the free services it provides to other state agencies and businesses.

He also said he was opposed to the reduction plan for SB 261, and wanted to send a message to the governor and Legislature.

“This is a death of 1,000 cuts,” he said, adding the elected officials needed to know what programs and services would be axed.

Board member Ken Wall said perhaps the library should consider charging for its Cadastral parcel database program, which stores information about public and private land ownership in Montana.

He said Montana was one of the few states that provides such a program, or approach agencies and ask them to contribute rather than lose the service altogether.

Board Chair Bruce Newell said he didn’t know if it would pay off soon enough.

He also said he was opposed to a service charge, saying libraries are already subsidized through taxes, which he considered a service charge.

“Getting more money out of state agencies is great, but it doesn’t solve our immediate problem of being a million bucks short,” he said.

Stapp said she was not comfortable with fees for state agencies for services, saying it would call the integrity of the information into question as some people would say the state was providing information that generated the most money. She also worried that agencies would not use the most current data available but reuse information they had purchased earlier.

Board member Aaron LaFromboise and others suggested the board meet with other groups who work with the library to gauge support and to approach lawmakers.

“We need to have our partners help us,” she said. “We need them to be our advocates.”

LaFromboise said the library has done a good job in the past two years to deal with funding challenges.

“I am very proud of the library because it’s not in the place where our hair is on fire,” she said. “We can feel the heat but it’s not horrible.”