New Orleans libraries seek millage hike to expand hours and branches

20th April 2015   ·   0 Comments

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

“Forty percent of adults in New Orleans read at the 5th-grade level or below—limiting job, career and life options,” explained Orleans Public Library head Charles Brown as a reason to support the May 2nd millage increase. “Currently, the Library partners with the YMCA’s YES program to house and support two adult literacy programs. Due to our current hours of operation, participants have been limited to daytime hours only. Longer hours of operation will allow employed individuals (presumably members of the ‘working poor’) to take advantage of evening and weekend literacy classes, which has the potential of changing their lives—and life options.”

In less than two weeks, on the first Saturday of Jazz Fest, Orleans Parish voters will have the opportunity to vote to raise their property taxes to support the New Orleans Library System. If the 2.5 millage rate hike fails on May 2, 2015, the existing $3 million dollar yearly deficit could force the library to close as many as two of its 14 branches.

At least, that is what Brown warned, in an interview with The Louisiana Weekly, “It will cost approximately $13 million to operate the library system this year. The existing 3.14 mills generates $9.5 million and will not support the current level of operation. For the past four years, the library has drawn upon a reserve fund that was built up in the years after Katrina as the city recovered and library branches were not fully operational. The system is nearly complete now, so the requested 2.5 mills is necessary to meet expenses. “

The problem, explained Brown, is that he and his staff attempt to run a library system on less money than they enjoyed prior to the Storm, with 30 fewer employees, and the surplus that has kept his branches open is all but depleted.

The New Orleans Public Library receives no monies from the City’s General Fund, and has not since 1986, when budget cuts under then-Mayor Dutch Morial effectively closed most of the branches. In that year, the Local Business Council formed around issue of “saving” the public library, and convinced voters to approve a 4 mill dedicated property tax, that was almost immediately rolled forward to 4.32 mills.

After 2005, the Library millage, along with others, was rolled back to 3.14 mills, “in order to lessen the tax burden on struggling, post-Hurricane Katrina homeowners”. At the time, six of its fourteen locations were destroyed beyond repair, and at various points during this period, and staff reductions saw 214 brought down to as few as 19 employees.

With fewer branches at the time, the dedicated library millage revenue did generate a surplus, creating a $12M reserve fund. However, in 2012, when five, new and larger replacement libraries opened, operating costs returned to pre-Hurricane Katrina levels. Consequently, the library board began to dip into this reserve fund, to the tune of over $3 million per year to just to meet expenses. Theirs was a choice of desperation that they could not sustain. At the current rate of usage, the Library’s reserves will be depleted sometime during 2016.

So the New Orleans Public Library has asked the electorate to restore the 1.18 mills that it collected in dedicated millages prior to Hurricane Katrina (4.32 – 3.14 = 1.18), and jump the tax rate by another 1.32 mills. The approval of 2.5 mills on May 2, 2015, would put the Orleans library millage at 5.64 mills, or less than Jefferson’s 6.5 mills or St. John the Baptist’s 10.00 mills. But, it would amount to more than all of the other metro parishes, Plaquemines at 1.19, St. Bernard at 3.68, St. Charles at 4.79, and St. Tammany at 5.35.

Jefferson Parish is the best comparison, comprised of similar sized population and number of branches, according to Charles Brown, and Orleans will still charge homeowners less. Moreover, he added, “Funding for the New Orleans Public Library is not on par (in fact it’s on the bottom), in terms of comparative per capita support, with other libraries in the N.O. metropolitan area; libraries in Louisiana serving populations of 100,000 residents or more; other libraries in the South such as Birmingham, Charleston, Little Rock and Mobile; and among other cities with high poverty rates: Cleveland, Detroit, Newark, etc. It doesn’t have to be like this: with just these 2.5 mills, our city could advance to at least the middle of these lists.”

Still, critics have argued that the mill increase should simply have been aimed at plugging the $3 million deficit, rather than raise taxes for 25-years. Brown disagreed, pointing out that the added funds, amounting to $54.81 per year per $300,000 home ($126.76 total), would put the services of the Orleans Library System on par with its neighbors.

“The major additional funding areas would be,” Brown noted, “increased hours of operation [and would] allow for the successful opening and operation of the Nora Navra Library, the last of the six destroyed libraries that is slated for replacement.”

“A significant investment has been made in new/updated library facilities,” he continued, “and this would both increase hours of access to them as well as be responsive to the consistent requests made by residents across the city for longer library hours. Currently, most libraries (with just two exceptions) are only open five days per week. The proposed seven-day-a-week operations at 6 locations would be the first-ever in New Orleans, at least during the current century.”

The Library system has not specifically indicated what the impacts of the cuts will be should the millage not pass. That led the good government group, The Bureau of Governmental Research, to oppose the millage. Brown countered, “As would be the case in any household, the loss of 25% of the Library’s operating budget would significantly and negatively impact services, especially since at this point most of the dedicated millage revenue goes to cover personnel costs. Current staffing numbers are still below pre-Hurricane Katrina levels, 214 vs. 184. In any case, final decisions on this matter would be made by the Library Board in conjunction with city government.”

The millage was rolled forward in 1986, a stealth tax increase approved without the public’s approval at the ballot box. When asked, “If the millage is enacted, do you pledge never to ask the City Council to roll forward the millage, after if it is rolled back due to higher property assessments,” Brown pledged, “Should it be successful, the current Library Board/Admin­istration has no intention, nor has it even contemplated, requesting a roll forward of the millage proposal on the May 2 ballot.”

“Libraries are important to the cultural fabric of a city – especially one like New Orleans,” Brown concluded. “The Library is the only information, education and entertainment resource in the city that is completely free (with no direct charge to use) and open to everyone. It provides essential computer and Internet resources for those without access or the skills to use them, and it is the virtual lifeline to the future for thousands of young people.”

Paired with the library millage, the ballot will include a second attempt by Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman to allow his office to use money from an existing property tax to pay for expensive reforms at Orleans Parish Prison. Gusman’s request, which voters rejected on Nov. 4, would not increase the current millage rate. Instead, bonds earmarked for construction projects could be utilized to underwrite costs associated with a federal consent decree mandating reforms in how the jail is managed. It amounts to roughly $4.4 million a year, should voters approve the measure.

Early voting starts this week.

This article originally published in the April 20, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.