Behind the Budget Dance Over Public Library Funding

If it's spring, it must be time for the annual budget dance between the mayor and the City Council, as they jockey over funding priorities.

This year, a big part of the dance is over subsidies for the city's three public library systems, and big names like Sarah Jessica Parker and David Byrne are getting into the fray over a proposed $11 million cut.

While the messaging from the libraries make that sound like a lot of money, it amounts to just 3 percent of the $395 million the city's giving the systems for the fiscal year ending June 30. Maria Doulis, vice president of the Citizens Budget Commission, says the cut, even if it is approved, is not draconian.

"What the libraries have proposed are to eliminate DVDs from circulation and reduce the printing of some printed materials," Doulis told WNYC's Jami Floyd. "Those are not cuts that I think users of libraries would feel threatened the user experience at their library branches."

What's fueling the libraries unusually virulent public relations campaign this year, however, is that they not only want to avoid cuts; they also want a sizeable increase. The New York, Queens and Brooklyn systems are calling on Mayor de Blasio to give them a $35 million increase in annual operating funds, and almost another $1 billion over the next decade for capital funding.

For more on the bookish budget dance, click "Listen."