The Springfield City Council adopted a new budget Monday. The spending plan includes cuts to the library, and deferred maintenance projects.
The new Springfield budget, which starts in July, will cut an associate library manager and teen service librarian. The workforce reduction means the library will be closed on Mondays.
Councilor Jill Cuadros said after hearing widespread concern about the library cuts, the city council should revisit the plan in the fall.
“I believe the reductions made in this budget were necessary, but I also believe the public response highlighted an opportunity for us to better understand the broader community values most," she said.
The city will also delay maintenance, including repairs to City Hall and the Justice Center and defer some street work, according to budget documents. In previous budget meetings, Springfield city staff said eventually the city will need to find funds to complete those repairs because the longer they wait, the more the work will cost.
Springfield is in the midst of a long-term effort to stabilize its finances after several tough budget years. Earlier this month, councilors approved a payroll tax, but it won’t go into effect until next year.
The same committee that proposed the payroll tax, the Mayor’s Fiscal Taskforce, also suggested reducing the library budget, and increasing current levies to cover the true cost of providing police and fire services. They also urged Springfield to decrease the city’s reliance on police overtime and explore strategies to retain businesses.
Voters approved the higher fire levy in November. Neither fire or police face staffing cuts in the newly-approved budget. The fire department has changed its staffing model to ensure firefighters have more rest and work less overtime.
The police levy won’t come up for a vote until next year.
Springfield is far from the only government making budget cuts this cycle. Lane County is poised to cut 15 jobs from its budget later this month. School districts across the region, including Springfield and Eugene, have also made significant budget cuts.
