The Detroit Public Library won't close any branches after all, but questions linger about how officials almost did because of botched budget numbers.
At a committee meeting of the Detroit Library Commission today, administrators withdrew a recommendation to close as many as 10 of 23 neighborhood branches and lay off dozens of staffers...
Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cromer, who does budget projections for the library, said Thursday he is "willing to take the heat" for initial Doomsday predictions, but said he "wanted the correct information out."
After recommending closing most branches last month, administrators have repeatedly scaled back plans as errors emerged in their math.
Last week, the list was cut after The Detroit News pointed out officials misinterpreted tax collection projections for the system that is largely funded through a 4.6-mill tax.
This week, Cromer acknowledged the library forgot to factor in savings from the loss of 70 staffers to layoffs and retirements this spring.
Well, arithmetic, organization, and a couple of functioning brain cells would all be useful in this situation....
It's Detroit. That's about what one would expect. We're talking about a city that looks like Berlin in '45.
ReplyDeleteOh, the DPL is a piker compared to the Detroit Public Schools district. They can spend three quarters of a million dollars on bad art the same year they send kids home with notes asking their parents to donate light bulbs and toilet paper to the schools.
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