Our north country libraries were well represented by staff from the libraries in Cape Vincent, Henderson, Osceola, Phoenix, Fulton and Lowville. When meeting with our local representatives, we focused on the first two budget priorities in NYLA's Legislative Agenda: 1) Increasing library aid in proportion to education aid, and 2) Increasing the State Library Construction Aid program from $14M to $30M. Other issues were discussed, but these two have the greatest impact on our member libraries.
The response from from every legislator we heard from was the same: We're on your side. However, we were also warned that the proposed budget doesn't have any "wiggle room" and that an increase in library aid (library aid remains flat in the proposed budget) will be hard to get.
So now it's crunch time. We need to keep advocating for libraries even though Advocacy Day is over. Continue to contact your local representatives. Thank them for their support. Tell them to keep pressure on their colleagues to increase library aid. Contacting them takes only takes a minute or two by clicking here.
