QuickTake:

After six people spoke at a recent City Council meeting about a proposal to cut the city library budget, officials there would be more discussions in the spring.

The Springfield mayor and city manager addressed public comments on proposed cuts to library funding at a City Council meeting Monday, Nov. 17. 

“My assumption … is that if there’s going to be any change to the library budget, it is going to come in the city manager’s proposed budget, which will be in the springtime,” Mayor Sean VanGordon said during the meeting.

Six people made comments during the meeting expressing their support for the library and asking the city to reconsider potential budget cuts to the department. The comments are prompted by a Fiscal Stability Task Force recommendation to cut $500,000 from the library’s $2.3 million budget to balance the city’s general fund. 

“Slashing budgets for libraries has many unintended consequences,” said Karen Babcock, who oversees the Springfield Public Schools libraries, during the meeting. “It is more than a storehouse of books. It is a vital piece of our community. When people attend the library, they bring their families. When people see families in the downtown corridor, they feel safe to come here and spend money and attend businesses to shop and to dine.”

VanGordon said the library has a lot of advocates and “there’s a lot of people that sit up at this table that are advocates for the library.”

He also addressed comments asking why the library is the only department in the city facing budget cuts. He said that “pretty much every department in this City Hall” has seen cuts over the last 10 years.

“I know it feels pressing, because the library is a high-impact department. It impacts a lot of people’s lives, and we take that seriously,” VanGordon said. “But I also want to balance that with saying that cities in Oregon have been struggling financially for a very long time.”

He asked community members to be patient and continue to write to council members. 

“Your input is being read and evaluated as we go through this,” the mayor said. 

City Manager Nancy Newton said during the meeting that she has been in conversations with the library director about the “potential implications in the budget.”

Newton said all library employees are fully funded in their positions through the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30, 2026. She said the next budget process will start in March. The city manager will submit a proposed budget to the budget committee, which is made up of city councilors and community members. The committee will hear public comment on the budget, deliberate and make any changes before approving it. The budget then proceeds to the City Council, which will hold a public hearing before adopting the budget.

“I personally think it’s important to try to look at what is kind of a worst-case scenario type of view,” Newton said, “and then it’s — in my opinion — better to add back than to cut further when you’re in the budget process.” 

She said that she has been reluctant since she began as city manager in 2020 to make cuts to the library.

“That was the last department that I asked to make a cut for,” the city manager said. “There were years where other departments sustained cuts and the library was held harmless. So we are all sharing … in this reduced revenue environment.”

In an email to Lookout Eugene-Springfield, Betty Goracke Olguin, secretary with the Springfield Public Library Foundation said, “Cutting the library’s budget means cutting staff, shortening hours and limiting vital public services — choices that weaken our community and reduce the foot traffic that sustains downtown businesses.”

Flock cameras

During the meeting, VanGordon also addressed comments from two community members who were critical of the city’s contract with Flock Safety for automated license-plate recognition cameras. Commenters expressed concerns about privacy and federal overreach. 

The Springfield Police Department installed 24 of the cameras throughout the city in September, saying they can assist in locating stolen vehicles or finding suspects in active investigations. Police turned on the cameras briefly for calibration purposes before turning them off while the community discusses their use. (One camera was briefly left on and flagged a stolen vehicle.)

VanGordon said the camera discussion will come back to the council for discussion “at some point in the near future.”

The City Council previously asked city staff to return to council with a proposal that includes more guardrails on the technology.

“For folks that are commenting about Flock, we’re listening,” the mayor said. “The (police department) is taking that feedback into account. We’re doing some follow-up with community groups now.”

Newton said the discussion may not happen before the council goes on recess in December, in which case it would be the “early part of next year.”