Mayor Wants Miami-Dade Libraries to Become More Efficient to Receive More Funding

From the Miami Herald:

With Miami-Dade libraries facing a budget crisis, Mayor Carlos Gimenez on Friday called for the system to trim spending more than the 25 percent cut sustained in the last four years.
“I don’t think we’re as efficient as we could be,’’ Gimenez told members of a task force he appointed to recommend changes to the library system. “If we had all the funding in the world, we’d still need to be as efficient as possible.”
When librarian and task-force member Katherine Seaver responded, “We’re down to 400 employees,’’ Gimenez suggested the county may need to look at whether the wages match the positions needed at the libraries.
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The library’s budget stood at $63 million in 2010, and has dropped by about $15 million since, including a $9 million drop from last year’s operating budget.
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Miami-Dade’s 49-library system will need to cut expenses in the next budget cycle without higher revenues. [Deede] Weithorn, [a Miami Beach commissioner and head of the county’s League of Cities] suggested using video-conferencing to let one librarian help customers in multiple libraries. “Skype a librarian,’’ Gimenez said. “I like that idea.”

Read the Full Text Article

Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Taskforce
Discussion Agenda for Taskforce Recommendations (2/21/2014) by LJ's infoDOCKET

See Also: Other Library Task Force Documents

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