Changing our direction

I recently read with interest the mayor’s attack (7 June 2010) on Marie Russell’s opinion (27 May 2010) on the state of Wellington’s libraries. Marie raised some very valid points. All rubbished by the mayor, who clearly had not read the subsequent article on Scoop or heard Bob McKee’s discussion on the importance of libraries on Radio New Zealand (which I commented on some time ago, see my posts below about “investing in our communities, not centralising them” and “its our library“).

One could be helped from thinking that this attack was a poor attempt to deflect attention from the carnival fiasco which has erupted. Already support for the carnival has got above 1300 supporters on facebook and growing. A much stronger response than the survey on Stuff. Why is it that Grant Robertson (Labour MP for Wellington Central) can talk with the Wellington Chamber of Commerce to investigate if alternative funding can be found for the carnival, and our council has not? However, I digress.

Lets dig a little deeper into what the mayor actually said.

The mayor suggests Marie was cocooning libraries from budget cuts. After all, “we have been hit by a recession” and “cost-cutting in the libraries during the past couple of years has been mirrored right across all council services”. Not true. Cost cutting has not been mirrored across all budgets. As Marie (and Scoop) points out, the library budget was hit the hardest. And has continually been the focus of cuts in earlier periods. We no longer have a mobile library service, staff are restricted in traveling to smaller branches to cover for sickness, and more recently books for babies was terminated (Marie’s list goes on, it’s a good read).

The Long Term Council Community Plan for 2009-10 forecast the  library operational budget at $23, 356,000.  However, the Draft Annual Plan for 2010-11 period now forecasts the operational expenditure for libraries will be $21,551,000. That is a projected funding cut of $1,805,000.  A  7.73% funding reduction in a single year. By contrast, the Tourism Promotion budget is up 10.8% and the Events Attraction and Support budget is up 6.8%. Interestingly, for all the talk about tightening belts, the budget for City governance and Engagement is up 7.11%. On the other hand, the funding for city galleries and museums is down by 1.64%. How can the mayor rubbish the figures used by Marie, they’re written in black and white in the plan?

Does this sound like cost cutting being mirrored across all budgets? No.

The fact is, libraries are not like other council assets. Although this is lost on the mayor, which is very worrying, for someone holding such a high office. Studies have proven that during times of recession the use of libraries increase. In fact, studies have also proven that investment in libraries returns more money back to the community, than invested. Libraries, if invested in properly, have the potential to grow our communities, increasing foot traffic for surrounding businesses, and providing a real growth hub. We should be investing in our community resources (not cutting them). Especially during a period of recession.

Planning for our libraries to close and choosing not to invest in them is a sure-fire way to bring about their death. Which is why the mayor’s statement that “if traditional library usage declines in any significant way, we would have to consider closing seldom-used branches” is an ominous sign of what is to come and I would suggest reflects very poor stewardship of Wellington’s greatest asset and resource.

To reconfirm the council’s decision to cut funding the mayor goes onto say that “we have been hit by a recession and have had to find savings everywhere”. If that is true, why is there still enough money for a $350k rugby monument and a proposed $5 million Chinese garden. Not to mention funds for a trip to china, and various other pet projects. Seems to me there is ample room to move and it is the misguided priorities of council that is resulting in our most valuable asset getting prioritised below a rugby monument.

The mayor goes on to state that “we have also listened to ratepayers who have no appetite for large rates increases”. But didn’t rates just go up by 5.75%? Isn’t this higher than the announcement a month ago that it would be 5.5%? And what was the councils earlier forecast? Apparently an average 3.27%. Add this year’s 5.75% cent to last year’s 4.1%, the previous year’s 6.4%, and 5.9% the year before. That’s an increase in rates of more than 20% cent in 4 years. Talk about budget blow out. Is this good stewardship of our finances? And didn’t the mayor just sign us up to even more increases once the leaky homes debt kicks in? If the council is listening, why does it spend so much on litigation defending its decisions?

And to complete the mayor’s rose-tinted glasses on the priorities council have to make, we learn that “we invest in such events to bring people into the city to spend money – money that our local economy needs to survive.”  Apparently, she’s not aware how much foot traffic libraries can generate for local communities. But if the focus is on generating money, why is there no action on the carnival?

“Libraries are facing change just as fast as everything else in the city”. The problem is that the changes that should be made (eg, investing in our resources to generate growth and well-being in our community) are not being made. Bad decisions are being made, and I do not see that as very go stewardship of our resources at all.

However, I do agree change is coming. But not in the manner that the mayor quite expects. There is a growing rumble of discontent with the lack of vision our council has and the degree of financial mis-management that has occurred. Its time for new voices, with fresh ideas and new perspective. Not to revive an old Obama pledge, but “its time for change.” Because I’m not sure we can afford much more of this.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/opinion/3783473/Libraries-are-facing-change-just-as-fast-as-everything-else-in-the-city, http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/opinion/3744116/Future-of-free-libraries-hangs-in-the-balance, http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=25463, http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/national/politics/3782754/Homeowners-rates-rise-but-business-rates-fall, http://werewolf.co.nz/2010/05/closing-the-books-on-libraries/