Good afternoon, library supporters.

Today, Governor Ed Rendell unveiled his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2008-09 which begins this coming July 1. The governor proposes increasing the state subsidy for public libraries by 2% up to $77.2 million surpassing last year's total by $1.5 million.

This year, with national economic worries on the horizon, the governor's presentation focused largely on economic issues including taxes, jobs, and investments in the state's infrastructure. Some projections indicate that the state may end this current year on June 30 with a surplus of about $400 million, but the growing sense that a recession is upon us casts a bit of a shadow over that projection. If predictions of a recession bear out, then the state faces a potential double whammy---increased costs associated with higher unemployment, and decreased revenue from lower consumer spending and lower income tax payments.

That's the backdrop as we begin anew the process for next year's budget. Calls for cooperation may be short-lived, especially since 2008 is an election year for all House members and half of the State Senate. Muddying the waters further is the fact that already, 24 members of this current General Assembly (19 members of the State House and 5 members of the State Senate) have announced that they will not seek re-election to their seats. This, combined with 50-plus new members after the last election, demonstrates just how unsettled the political environment is in Harrisburg.

While it is true that the $77.2 million proposed by the governor represents the highest-ever state funding for libraries, that fact is tempered by the knowledge that this modest increase almost certainly does not allow us to re-engage the funding formula without creating great division in the library community. Since the disastrous budget of 2003-04, PaLA and its members have worked hard to persuade decision-makers in Harrisburg that a return to our incentives-based funding formula is critical if we are to have success in improving local funding, our greatest shortcoming.

We expect to continue aggressive advocacy for the formula in the coming months. We also recognize that details of the formula may not be well-understood by a growing proportion of our library community. We will be exploring ways to better educate our own advocates about the formula, and the reasons why running it is so important in our state.

We are gathering more detailed information on the budget overall, and the Department of Education in specific. PaLA's Legislative Information Committee will meet on Thursday to discuss the budget in greater depth and plan our strategy for the coming weeks and months. One of the items that we'll take a long look at is equalizing the public library subsidy increase with the percentage increase that the Governor proposes for basic education---a 5.9% increase. A 5.9% increase in the public library subsidy would generate an additional $4.4 million and, we believe, allow for at least a modified run of the public library formula leading to full engagement of the formula in the following fiscal year.

This is not the only idea or option, and the Legislative Committee will take a closer look at all of this on Thursday. In addition, the PaLA Board of Directors will meet on Friday in a regularly scheduled meeting and the Governor's budget proposal certainly will be a primary topic of discussion.

We should have much more to share with you soon about strategy and messages. Thank you in advance for your determination and steadfast advocacy.

Glenn

Glenn R. Miller
Executive Director
Pennsylvania Library Association
220 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 10
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17055
phone: 717-766-7663
fax: 717-766-5440
e-mail: glenn@palibraries.org