CONCORD, NH – On March 24 Representative Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) brought forth amendments to the state budget, to defund down to zero both the State Arts Council and the State Library during House Finance Committee Division I meeting.
After two days of discussion, the committee voted along party lines to defund the State Arts Council but preserve the library funding.
Due to the state budget crunch, the Division I Finance Committee is looking at trimming $2 million from division 1 departments.
In making his case Sweeney said that the state needs to identify its wants versus its needs, and identified the library and arts council as “wants” that the state does not have a constitutional obligation to fund.
“It is a tough budget cycle that we are in, but when we have to look at the breadth of the other cuts that other divisions are making, this is a haircut that we can make that doesn’t have negative externalities when we’re talking about the health and well being of the state of New Hampshire,” Sweeney said.
During day one of deliberations, Representative Karen Ebel (D-New London) said that she had a problem “doing something this dramatic” without getting input from the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources – which the library and arts commission fall under – to understand what the impact of these cuts would be.
She added that the arts is a driver of business and the economy and income in New Hampshire, and that she found such a decrease to that “economic driver” problematic.
Representative Gerald Griffin (R-Mont Vernon) said that he didn’t’t have a problem with “doing away with the arts for a while or postponing for a couple of years,” as it easily could be picked up in the budget again in future years.
So on Monday the committee voted 5 to 4 along party lines to accept the amendment to defund the arts council. But after more discussion, the committee postponed the vote on the amendment to defund the library until the following day.
“With losing revenue that goes toward the state library, to me, it’s one of those cuts that we just sort of have to make as a state in order to help balance our books and help balance our budget,” Sweeney said on Monday.
The proposed revenue loss comes from the federal executive order issued on March 14, that would cut the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
According to a statement from the Manchester City Library, the State Library uses IMLS money to fund the interlibrary loan program, Talking Book Services, and Libby, an eBook, eAudio and digital magazine platform.
Sweeney says the State Library property is “wonderful” but “severely under utilized” and would be of better use by the state legislative and executive branches.
As the oldest State Library in the country, Rep. Griffin felt that the library is a part of the state’s history and a great resource that he felt should be preserved, and asked that the vote be put off.
During Tuesday’s reconvening of the committee Sweeney repealed his amendment to completely defund the library.
“I do not want to move forward with the full cut of the State Library, nor do I think we would like to,” he said.
He added that defunding two unfilled library positions – as previously suggested by chairman Dan McGuire (R-Epsom) – was a more “surgical approach,” although this motion would later fail.
While there was also a move to cut $100,000 a year from the library’s budget, the committee instead voted 5 to 4 to cut the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources budget by $300,000.