Thunder Bay library budget survey garners more than 1,500 responses in just days

The Thunder Bay Public Library's chief executive officer says it has had a lot of reaction to a new survey released last week in response to news of a potentially large cut to the library's capital budget.

Richard Togman said the survey released late Thursday has already generated more than 1,500 responses.

"We've gotten communication from the city manager's office that they were going to be recommending this budget cut to city council," said Togman.

"And from the history of the public library, we know we haven't exactly been the best-funded institution in the city for a few decades now. And we were made aware that the city manager was going to be recommending a 15 per cent cut to our capital budget."

The survey, which was posted via SurveyMonkey, has 13 questions that run the gamut from asking how the respondent feels about the potential cut to the budget, to a yes, no or maybe question that asks if they would be willing to "attend a protest/demonstration to protect the library from big budget cuts."

Togman said the survey is being used to see what the Thunder Bay public feels about the potential cut and also alert people about what could happen.

"I think that a 15 per cent cut will have a very significant impact on our ability to deliver proper library services to the community," he said.

"This is to our capital budget, so it maintains everything from the safety of our buildings, to the fire alarm systems, the lighting ... it impacts our ability to provide computers for public access use ... comfortable chairs and tables. It's all of our basic physical infrastructure."

The library's capital budget for 2022 amounted to approximately $700,000, Togman said. It's separate from the operating budget, which primarily covers wages and amounted to about $6 million.

Other questions in the survey ask respondents how much more they would be willing to pay in property taxes to have a new state-of-the-art public library and whether senior city managers should take a two per cent cut in their salaries to save a library branch.

Togman said the city has not contacted the library about its survey.

Budget will be 'very challenging,' city manager says

In an email to CBC, Thunder Bay city manager Norm Gale provided a written statement that says he is aware of the survey. 

"This budget, which is confidential at this time, will be very challenging and it may be that other city-funded boards also appeal to the community to influence the difficult decisions council must make," the statement reads.

"Council will be supported to fully consider the complexity of distributing taxpayers' hard-earned dollars to pay for the programs, services, emergency services, and infrastructure residents use and rely on every day."

Togman said it is important that the Thunder Bay community understand what the library services mean and has the context for how much they are funded.

"So, for example, in 2022, the City of Thunder Bay spent more money on the James Whalen tugboat than they did on the entire capital budget of all of our libraries," said Togman, referring to the ship that was relocated, after the city awarded a contract of close to $800,000 to lift it from the Kaministiquia River. 

• Century-old James Whalen tugboat set to be raised from river after sinking earlier this year

"So that's a pretty stark number where we're really not spending a lot on the libraries and we seem to have money to spend on other city priorities."

The survey can be found here.