City looking at ways to close the gap in budget deficit

Twice a week for the past year, one of North Las Vegas’ three libraries takes a day off.

The brownouts — part of a package of service cuts and wage freezes that helped the city bridge a $33 million budget gap last summer — are set to continue as the library district faces a $1 million deficit of its own in fiscal year 2014.

This time next year, some district trustees would be surprised to see all three libraries functioning.

“The public doesn’t know how bad it is,” explained longtime Library District Board of Trustees member Vernie Borgersen. “We only have three libraries; we might only have one or two open in the future.

“It’s not there — the money’s just not there.”

Borgersen, one of three advisory board appointees spared an abrupt dismissal at a City Council meeting this month, is wary of the city’s pledge to patch this year’s $18 million deficit without cutting deeper into city parks and recreation and library funds.

So is city Finance Director Al Zochowski, who blamed a major slowdown in municipal tax revenue for the sudden shortfall in the city’s largely taxpayer-funded library district budget.

“I know the City Council is adamant about keeping service levels at the libraries the way they are, so we are going to look hard to find ways to do that,” Zochowski told council members at a special meeting April 9. “Will we be successful? I’m not sure, but we’re sure going to try.”

North Las Vegas spokeswoman Juliet Casey said city leaders aren’t yet looking to shutter a library in an effort to close this year’s budget gap, though she didn’t say the option had been tabled.

For now, she said, City Hall remains focused on smoothing bigger wrinkles in the city’s preliminary budget, including millions in hoped-for concessions from city police and firefighters unions.

“I don’t think they’ve talked about closing a library at the city manager level,” Casey said. “I don’t imagine that would be a desired strategy.”

Casey emphasized that City Council members continued support for efforts to form a Friends of the Library group and said the district deficit, while “nothing to sneeze at,” could still be wiped out with cost savings elsewhere.

“The solution may not be individually tailored,” she said. “It could be that it comes from the unions or somewhere else, but we just don’t yet what that solution will be.”

The city has until May 21 to eliminate its budget deficit before submitting a final budget to the state on June 1. The final fiscal-year spending plan is set to take effect July 1.

Contact Centennial and North Las Vegas View reporter James DeHaven at jdehaven@viewnews.com or 702-477-3839.