9/7/2005
Media Contact:
Cherrish S. Pryor
(317)327-4231 |
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Councilman Gibson to Propose Flat-lining Library’s Budget
Indianapolis – Tonight Councilman Ron Gibson, Chairman of the City County Council’s Municipal Corporations Committee, will propose an amendment in committee to flat-line the budget of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library. The amendment will decrease the library’s proposed 2006 budget and tax levy and, return it to the 2005 amount.
Councilman Gibson said, "There are other agencies and departments that need a budget increase, but they have held the line on asking the Council to raise taxes, and the library should do the same."
During the 2005 session of the General Assembly, the Council was given the authority to reduce or modify the operating and maintenance budgets and tax levies of most municipal corporations through Senate Bill 307. Before passage of the bill, the Council could only review and adopt those budgets.
Councilman Gibson said, "The General Assembly gave us a tool to provide fiscal oversight of the library, and that is what we are doing. Taxpayers must feel their hard-earned dollars, paid to the city and county are being used properly. The library has to prove to the Council and the taxpayers that they are getting their money’s worth."
The tax levy proposed by the library for 2006 is .1067. Councilman Gibson’s amendment will return the rate to its 2005 amount which was .0982.
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