{"id":235331,"date":"2026-05-18T14:47:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T14:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/235331\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T14:47:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T14:47:21","slug":"for-first-time-nycs-libraries-to-have-permanent-baseline-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/235331\/","title":{"rendered":"For first time, NYC\u2019s libraries to have permanent, baseline funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLATBUSH \u2014 New York City\u2019s 200 public libraries will no longer have to plead and protest for operating funding in an annual \u201cbudget dance,\u201d Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday.<\/p>\n

At a press conference in Brooklyn Public Library\u2019s Flatbush branch, Mamdani announced, for the first time, permanent baseline funding for all three city library systems \u2014 Brooklyn Public Library, Manhattan Public Library and Queens Public Library. The Fiscal Year 2027 Executive Budget\u00a0baselines $31.7 million\u00a0for the libraries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Baseline funding provides stable, ongoing financial support, rather than unpredictable, one-time grants, followed by budget cuts and protests. The baseline funding means that the $31.7 million is now locked into the city\u2019s budget permanently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This brings\u00a0total\u00a0library funding\u00a0to\u00a0nearly $530 million, up from $491.4 million in the mayor\u2019s preliminary budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long, library funding has been treated\u00a0like a political bargaining chip \u2014\u00a0cut in February,\u00a0restored in June, and fought over every single year,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cThat cycle ends with this budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cBy baselining this funding, we are giving\u00a0every branch in every borough\u00a0the stability to\u00a0plan\u00a0ahead, hire\u00a0staff\u00a0and\u00a0serve New Yorkers\u00a0without wondering\u00a0if the money will\u00a0disappear next spring.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"CouncilmemberCouncilmember Shahana Hanif with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, at Friday\u2019s library budget announcement in Brooklyn. Photo: Ed Reed\/Mayoral Photography Office<\/p>\n

Fast budget pivot<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s announcement represents a pivot from the mayor\u2019s preliminary budget proposal, which would have cut the library budget by $29 million compared to last year\u2019s budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His initial figures had disappointed library advocates and New York City Council members, who pointed to Mamdani\u2019s campaign promise<\/a> to \u201cend the practice of using library funding as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations and commit 0.5% of NYC\u2019s budget to libraries.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 1, the City Council proposed an alternative budget<\/a>, which included $30.7 million for the library systems, among other adjustments.<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s proposal supplies slightly less than 0.5%, according to the Mayor\u2019s Office \u2014 a gap the mayor hopes to bridge in the future.<\/p>\n

Applause from libraries and advocates<\/p>\n

At Friday\u2019s press conference, the heads of all three branches joined the mayor and Council members to applaud the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a win for all New Yorkers,\u201d BPL President Linda Johnson, NYPL President Anthony Marx and QPL President Dennis Walcott said in a group statement. The library executives also thanked the City Council \u201cfor being our tireless champions and long-time advocates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are turning the page on the annual budget dance where libraries are forced to fight every year just to keep their doors open,\u201d said\u00a0Councilmember Shahana Hanif, a long-time library advocate who represents Brooklyn neighborhoods including Gowanus, Boerum Hill and Park Slope.\u00a0\u201cBy baselining this $31.7 million investment, we are making library funding permanent and protecting branches from the repeated threats of cuts we saw under the Adams administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember Crystal Hudson, whose Brooklyn district includes Fort Greene and parts of Crown Heights, said that she and her colleagues in the Council have \u201cfought tirelessly\u201d to ensure the city\u2019s libraries have the resources required.<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s decision will allow more than 30 branches to keep their doors open on Sundays, Hudson said.<\/p>\n

New York City\u2019s three library systems serve more than 37 million visitors annually across\u00a0more than\u00a0200 branches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLATBUSH \u2014 New York City\u2019s 200 public libraries will no longer have to plead and protest for operating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,16073,1873,26301,92170,5324,9,24,5325,63,82],"class_list":["post-235331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-brooklyn-public-library-bpl","tag-flatbush","tag-libraries","tag-linda-johnson","tag-mary-frost","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-no-paywall","tag-nyc","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}