By KENNETH C. CROWE II, Staff writer Last updated: 12:14 p.m., Tuesday, January 6, 2009
TROY - The Troy Public Library will close two branches Feb. 2 and cut staff to reduce expenses.
The library will shut the Lansingburgh and Sycaway branches. The main library will remain open.
The library also will lose seven staff members who fill the equivalent of four and a half full-time positions.
City voters defeated a proposed $1 million budget in November, leaving the library without the revenues it counted on to operate this year.
This year, the library budget is $669,700, or 17 percent smaller than the $803,000 budget for 2008.
Library officials noted that the city's $450,000 contribution to the library has not increased since 2003.
"We are aware that many young people who are within walking distance of our two branches will have difficulty getting to the main library,'' the library said in a statement.
Troy gets it-Schenectady County Legislators don't. They refuse to cut underutilized City branches. Instead they wasted half a million dollars in plans for a main library addition that the County had no money for.
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Troy gets it-Schenectady County Legislators don't. They refuse to cut underutilized City branches. Instead they wasted half a million dollars in plans for a main library addition that the County had no money for.
