Narragansett Library advocates worry they’ll have to slash operations if budget cuts pass

NARRAGANSETT R.I. (WLNE) – The public library in Narragansett is in a state of limbo after the town council proposed to cut their budget for the upcoming year by more than half.

The Maury Loontjens Memorial Library is the sixth busiest in the state, with roughly 10,000 visitors every month.

But with proposed budget cuts that may slash their operations, they’re not sure what their day to day may soon look like.

“We’ll be – either jeopardized of being closed, we’ll be crippled,” said Mary Ann Grintchenko, President of Friends of Narragansett Library. “We might be able to function three days a week.”

“We’ll have to furlough some of the employees of the library,” said Nancy DeNuccio, President of the Love Your Library Coalition. “That’s horrible.”

At a town council work session Thursday night, the majority of the council voted in favor of taking away nearly $450,000 dollars from the library’s operating budget for the next fiscal year – arguing that they have more than $680,000 in reserve they can use to operate.

“I don’t think anyone should be able to build up a piggy bank and do what they want with it,” said Council Member Richard Lema. “This is tax payer dollars.”

But Grintchenko says the reserve is for catastrophic emergencies, not operating costs.

The cut to the budget would also mean that the library would lose state funding of more than $180,000.

“It’s just one thing after another that our library has been facing,” said Grintchenko.

In addition to those budget cuts, advocates say that plans for a new or renovated library, for now, seem to be shelved.

Earlier this year the town council made the decision to sell the old Belmont building, which was supposed to house a new library.

Voters had approved a bond measure for the new building in the 2016 election.

“The democratic process is not being honored,” said DeNuccio. “You had a large majority of voters in the 2016 election that wanted this.”

Advocates plan to protest the proposed cuts next Monday night by marching to town hall.

© WLNE-TV/ ABC6 2019