For many San Diegans, libraries are for more than checking out books. They’re places to access homework help, computer classes and Wi-Fi. According to the San Diego Library Foundation, they’re a lifeline for the 53,000 households in the city that lack broadband internet.
“Yes, this is a tough budget year,” said Patrick Stewart, the Foundation’s CEO. “But still we have to maintain a connection to the most vulnerable individuals in our community.”
The city faces a $137 million budget deficit. Mayor Todd Gloria has proposed slightly increasing the library’s overall operating budget, with some of that money paying for higher janitorial and landscaping costs.
While the proposed budget wouldn't cut library hours, it would reduce the library’s programming budget by $250,000. That budget funds summer reading, LGBTQIA+, mental health and other programs.
The budget also proposes reductions to the library’s wireless hotspot program, which helps people access the Internet. At a budget committee meeting on Friday, San Diego Public Library Director Misty Jones said it’s in high demand.
“We have about 4,000 hotspots that we’re lending. It would reduce it to about 3,000,” she told the committee. “There’s a 98% check out rate of those hotspots, so that would be impactful.”
San Diego City Council members and advocates also worried about cutting donation-match funds. The city matches a certain amount of donations to libraries each year, and the proposed budget would reduce the maximum match from $1.2 million to $900,000.
Half of donation matching funds go to the branch or program of the donor’s choice, and the other half goes to those that need it most.
“It may be those branch locations with the most need, which typically don't receive significant donations, that may be most impacted by this reduction,” Baku Patel, with the city’s Office of the Independent Budget Analyst, told the committee.
City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera said he’s hopeful the city can find alternatives to cutting library funding.
“These are not big dollar amounts, but they will have a big impact,” he said. “I certainly hope we can look to those who have much more, and are much more equipped because of inequities in the past, to absorb the impacts of reductions, to bear the burden of those reductions, rather than the Library Department.”
The council will continue discussing the budget in the coming weeks. The mayor’s office will release a revised budget in mid-May.
