Mayor Cory Reeves is responding to criticism that he, and the City Commission, reduced funding for the library after the public voted to increase its budget. He wants us to buy his spin about his support for the decision to take funding from the library.
He starts his explanation with the following, “At no point did the City Commission “remove” any voter-approved library mills. That’s simply not true.” Then he explains, at great length, that the city simply renegotiated a reduction to an existing contract with the library. While denying that it had anything to do with the library mill levy which voters approved. Nor did he say much about the fact that money taken from the library was channeled to “public safety” after the voters failed to approve a much larger public safety mill levy request.
A remarkable bit of bureaucratic double speak. The library’s over-all budget, which included mills approved by the voters, was reduced. Funding from an existing contract with the city, which had been in place since 1993, was taken from the library and given to public safety activity, which had been rejected by the voters. Reeves’ effort to split hairs about the source of funds whether voted mills or existing contract is simply a ploy to avoid accountability now that he is running for re-election.
Put simply, the voters approved additional funding for the library. The voters rejected additional funding for public safety. The City Commission and Reeve’s then reduced the library’s funding and gave it to public safety.
But that’s not the whole story. As is often the case, when far-right culture warriors enter the electoral arena facts disappear and wild conspiracies theories take their place. This is especially true when libraries are involved. The library mill levy election was so contentious a judge ordered a special monitor to oversee the election to assure it was run competently and fairly. Thanks to the hard work of dedicated supporters of libraries the mill request passed. The opponents of the library temporarily retreated to their Freedom Caucus and Pachyderm Club meetings and focused on the internal fighting among Cascade County Republicans.
But here is the rub, unfortunately the majority of the city commission, including Mayor Reeves, is more aligned with the opponents of the library. And they used their power to take a pound of flesh out of the library. Ironically Reeves ended his spin about reducing the library’s budget with the following, “As mayor, I will always prioritize facts over spin, and I’ll continue to protect core services, public safety chief among them.”
The reduction to library funding smacked of political retribution and the “renegotiation” of the existing contract was a done deal before the parties even sat down at the table.
The Electric has provided an excellent time line about the library and public safety levies here. https://theelectricgf.com/2024/09/24/timeline-library-public-safety-levies/