Brian Rowell Daily Press Statues of children reading are shown outside of the Escanaba Public Library Monday afternoon. After a special meeting Monday, the Escanaba City Council dropped the idea of cutting the library’s budget by 40 percent.

ESCANABA — The Escanaba City Council has listened. No cuts will be made to Escanaba Library funding.

“The library keeps its money. We do not cut that at all — even a little, tiny bit,” said Escanaba Mayor Mark Ammel during a special council work session on the budget held Monday morning.

While cuts to the library were never part of any official draft of the 2022-23 city budget, the idea of slashing the city’s $174,342 contribution to the library was initially put forward by City Manager Patrick Jordan on a list of possible ways the city could save money in the face of looming deficits in the general fund over the next few years. If no changes were made, a $1.02 million deficit was expected in the fund at the end of the 2022-23 fiscal year.

The list was not immediately made public, but word of the cut got out, prompting more than 100 people to attend the May 5 city council meeting in support of the library. Eighteen people spoke during what was the fourth of five public hearings on the budget, with nearly all speaking exclusively about the library and its mission.

“I don’t think I can say anything that would speak louder than the people who turned out the other night,” Library Director Carolyn Stacey told the council Monday morning.

During Monday’s special meeting, the council went through a more extensive list of potential cuts with each department head saying whether they believed a cut could be made. When it got to the library, Stacey acknowledged cuts were possible for the library but not at the scale initially proposed.

The original $174,342 proposed represented eliminating the general fund’s contribution above the library’s statutory millage funding and would have represented a 40% cut in library funding coming from the general fund. According to Stacey, the only feasible cut for the library that would not cause staffing cuts would be a 10% cut of $45,000. A cut of that size would eliminate the library’s budget for buying materials and leave three open positions vacant.

“There are some potential impacts even with a 10% cut to public open hours, our outreach services, public programming, and, as I said, administration because I’d be doing another person’s job,” said Stacey.

After walking the council through the impacts of larger cuts, her willingness to accept any cut at all was commended by the council.

“I appreciate that she’s willing to take the 10% hit, $45,000, but I’d rather leave her budget alone,” said Council Member Ron Beauchamp.

Not everything was as safe as the library, however. Cuts were made from the office of the city manager, controller, clerk, auditor, board of review treasurer, utility billing, assessor, attorney, public safety, engineer, planning and and zoning, and parks and recreation. Among those cuts were the elimination of the annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display, which Recreation Director Kim Peterson said was likely to be only a few minutes long due to rising costs; police body cameras, which are still on the public safety department’s wish list but must be paid for through grants; and a planned overhaul of the city’s zoning.

Spared from the cuts were the city’s full time code enforcement officer, lifeguards at the municipal beach, and funding for the Bonifas Arts Center, the Delta County Historical Society and Enhance Escanaba.