The conundrum over how to support dozens of arts groups and replenish the libraries for 2011 comes to a head in the Erie County Legislature today with no clear strategy at hand according to the Buffalo News.
Most lawmakers say they would like to restore some or all of the approximately $4 million that County Executive Chris Collins cut from the library system when he proposed a budget for next year.
Most lawmakers also want to provide taxpayer money to some or all of the dozens of theaters and galleries that Collins froze out.
However, none of the four plans hatched by assorted camps of lawmakers has yet drawn a Legislature majority. Those four include the set of revisions proposed Monday by Legislature Chairwoman Barbara Miller-Williams, D-Buffalo.
Miller-Williams said she sought a middle ground that Collins would not veto, “to assure that at the end of the day the library and the cultural organizations actually will see the funding.”
However, the $1 million she would restore for the library system was considered too little by both Republican Minority Leader John J. Mills of Orchard Park and Democratic Majority Leader Maria R. Whyte of Buffalo.
Library Director Bridget Quinn- Carey was not wowed, either.
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