Dallas Skillman Library saved from closure after councilwoman finds untapped funds
DALLAS - A Northeast Dallas library set to be shut down is now off the budget chopping block.
Many residents gave Dallas City Council members an earful after the budget called for the Skillman Southwestern Branch Library to be closed in a matter of weeks.
Emma Slagh is one of many Skillman Library users who let council members know their library matters.
"This library is a treasured resource for our area," she said.
Originally, Dallas Public Library Director Jo Giudice said the Skillman branch was chosen to be closed based on lower attendance for programming. But on Wednesday, she revealed why the programming numbers are lower.
"Skillman is not a location for adult learning or summer lunch. That makes attendance for programs lowered," she said.
Giudice says the library moves up to 18 out of 28 when you look at average program attendance. And for circulation, it is the seventh highest in the city.
"I looked at additional statistics that we did not look at earlier," she said.
The library is in Councilwoman Paula Blackmon's district. She found the $485,000 needed to keep the library open by looking at a fund for infrastructure projects. She warned closing the library would come with a risk.
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Dallas proposes closing Skillman library branch
Closing the library would save the city $485,000 a year. The proposed $30,000 raise for Dallas City Council members and the mayor would equal $450,000 a year.
"If this fails, where is the money to secure it?" she asked. "Because I'm not going to go through what we have with our other vacant buildings."
"I heard from plenty of people in the community. A lot are transit-dependent. It is essentially a rounding error with how big this budget is," Bazaldua said.
Councilman Chad West also supported keeping the doors open.
"When you look at the grand scheme of things, just two weeks ago, we were getting a proposal for $200,000 for food kits with no metrics. Now, this is a physical library that services people," he said.
There was some pushback on using nearly a half million dollars from the infrastructure fund. But with nearly $12 million in total being set aside, no projects have actually been proposed yet.
"To pull the plug on this because there is a hypothetical of where the money could be used without rolling up your sleeves and saying where that is, is a disservice," Bazaldua said.
There was previously an idea to use book vending machines if the branch were to close. Residents scoffed at that.
"The library is important to us," said library patron Maggie Watson. "A vending machine can't replace it."
Ultimately, the proposal to save the library passed in a straw vote. However, it still needs formal approval from the council in the city's budget.