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SALT LAKE CITY — City leaders have decided to end discussions about extending the Salt Lake City Main Library's hours to 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Salt Lake City Public Board voted on Monday to discontinue inquiry into the 24/7 library service proposal after deciding the pilot program's $3.8 million cost was too steep.
Library Board Vice President Nate Salazar called the figure a "daunting number," and President Emilie Charles deemed the price as "fiscally, a fatal flaw," according to a news release issued Monday.
City officials began contemplating 24/7 library service at its main library at the end of 2014 when a group of community members showed interest in privately funding a two-year test program.
An assessment of the program was presented to the library board last summer, which showed enough community interest in a 24/7 library service to pursue an operations plan.
"Once the question came to the board, and it was a public question of interest, we started looking at something that no other library system to our knowledge had really looked at," said board member Pete Giacoma. "So it was due diligence on our own behalf but, in a way, for all public libraries that might be interested in doing this."
The operations plan, presented to the library board last week, outlined the main costs required to operate two floors of the Main Library overnight, including staffing, utilities and security costs. The report budgeted $3.8 million over the two-year pilot, a figure more than three times initial assumptions.
"We're making a sound decision based on the responsibility that we have to our city and our citizens," Salazar said. "We've put a lot of their hard money, through their taxes, into what we do here, so it's a daunting number to think that we're looking at something almost three times as much as what we were initially proposed."
Although the two-year pilot would be funded by potential private donations, library board members also raised concerns that costs to continue the service beyond a two-year pilot would require taxpayer support.
The operations plan report stated that adding the costs of 24/7 library service beyond the two-year pilot would require a tax rate increase that would bring it close to their legal tax rate limit and leave little room for future increases.
"I want to be clear that (the decision to discontinue consideration) is because of the financial responsibilities that we have and not the merits based on the need and community interest," Salazar said. "We did learn a lot through this process."
Salt Lake City has opened two new library locations in the past year: the Glendale Branch at 1375 S. Concord (1240 West) in February 2015 and the Marmalade Branch, its eighth location, opened on Saturday at 280 W. 500 North.
"With two new libraries in diverse, changing communities and a continued examination of ideal operating hours at all branches, the city library is dedicated to providing world-class and modern library services to everyone in Salt Lake City," said acting library director Deborah Ehrman.
