GARY -- Gary Public Library Board members and administrators on Saturday unveiled their options in confronting an expected 50 percent reduction in its budget beginning next year.
Each of the five scenarios presented by library consultant Curtis Whittaker in-cluded one or more library closures and outsourcing janitorial and maintenance services in answer to $3 million deficits.
The Gary Public Library system likely will see its 2011 budget cut from about $6.4 million to $3.2 million. The system still has more than $3 million in reserves, but the board is reluctant to tap into those funds.
The system now includes six branches, with one, the Tolleston branch, closed due to mold and water problems. That branch is likely to stay closed, but the board still struggles with operating the rest on plummeting tax revenues, board president Tony Walker said.
"None of us, I think, enjoy the prospects of having to reduce the footprint of the library from six branches to, quite possibly, four branches," he said.
Such are the harsh budgetary realities the library system is facing, given property tax caps and poor tax collection rates that have libraries, municipalities and other taxing districts scrambling for ways to continue their operations, Walker said.
He also said the board refuses to appeal to the state's Distressed Unit Appeals Board and essentially "abdicate" its responsibility to manage the system amid poor finances and relinquish much of its decision-making power.
The first option, and the one Walker earlier this week said he preferred, is to close the Main Branch and reduce administrative staff by half. Also, administrative offices could be moved to the Du Bois branch, which would be expanded to accommodate the change.
The second scenario calls for closing the Du Bois, Woodson and Brunswick and Kennedy branches over three years and restructuring operations at the Main Library.
The next option keeps the Main Library open but restructured and closes all other branches.
It would include issuing $4 million in bonds to renovate the only surviving building and use reserves to service the debt.
Scenario four closes all the facilities on Jan. 1, 2011, except for the Du Bois Branch. Meanwhile, bonds would renovate the Main Library.
The final option closes all buildings except Du Bois in January 2012, with bond money going toward renovating the Main Library.
Board members and Library Director Sherri Ervin also have been looking at ways to cut costs using technology, such as using more online access to databases and other library resources, Ervin said.
The board will have to make a decision soon.
It can operate as is for another three to six months before tapping into reserves, Whittaker said.
While no one knew how many jobs could be lost in the change, employee expenses make up about 70 percent of the system's operating costs, he said, including $750,000 a year for health insurance for 23 employees.