What was policy behind library cuts?

In October Ledyard, like other Connecticut towns and cities, used temporary budget cuts to resolve the crisis brought on by the state which first delayed and then reduced funds allocated to the town. The distribution of these cuts across town departments revealed that the library, whose annual budget is less than 1 percent of the town’s total, had been ordered to pay for more than 20 percent of Ledyard’s estimated shortfall ($500,000), by cutting $115,000 (19 percent) of its expenditures; other town departments were assessed 1 percent to 4 percent.

Public debate never really addressed this lopsided distribution of budget cuts, as it evolved into ranking the importance of snowplows vs. libraries. There has been no public debate on an even more important question. How did the library’s budget cuts, implemented to resolve a temporary budget crisis, become permanent? It’s worth noting that the library is unique in this regard. But the question that has to be answered is when and how was it decided that the library’s austerity budget would be perpetual.

Please note, this is not a library issue. Ledyard’s town government makes decisions that shape the lives of everyone living here, in countless ways. The people of Ledyard need to know the basis for these decisions.

Marilyn Baseler

Ledyard