On Sept. 25, 2009, Mayor Greg Nickels announced his proposed 2010 capital budget plan for the city. Endorsed capital budgets across all departments were reduced due to a 45 percent drop in real estate excise tax revenue.
The proposed 2010 capital budget for the Library is $1,031,000, down 37 percent from the 2009 adopted budget of $1,646,000.
The Library's capital budget pays for major maintenance - projects with scopes of work that go beyond what the Library's building maintenance workers are able to undertake.
The Library is reprioritizing planned capital projects in light of the reduced funding, and will focus on projects that address life safety, preserve assets and are required to implement high-priority improvements to service.
In order to maintain a viable capital program and prevent deterioration of the heavily used libraries, it will be essential to restore the capital budget to a sustainable level by 2011.
