The Des Moines City Council approved $11.5 million in spending reductions and savings in a 6-1 vote, the Des Moines Register reported. The library system’s $750,000 reduction was lowered from an initial proposal of $940,000, according to the Register.
In response to the funding cut, the Des Moines Public Library Board of Trustees voted to end Sunday service at Central Library and Franklin Avenue Library, the system’s only branches with Sunday hours, the library system announced. The system’s smaller branches already operated Monday through Saturday, the Business Record reported.
KCCI reported that the change would begin Nov. 1, and the Business Record reported that Oct. 25 was the last Sunday the branches would be open.
Ending Sunday hours, along with a department reorganization, is expected to save about $500,000, leaving the system to find another $250,000 through savings or additional revenue, KCCI reported. Staffing has also been a challenge: six full-time positions were held vacant over the past year, and five full-time positions were lost to budget cuts over the preceding three years, according to the Business Record.
The board selected Sunday service cuts as the option expected to have the least effect on circulation across the system, WHO 13 reported. This account of the board’s reasoning comes from that outlet’s original reporting.
The budget process may bring further changes for library services. The Business Record reported that additional library cuts remained possible; city staff were seeking $5.5 million in further cuts or revenue offsets by January 2027, according to Little Village.
Library-card activity was rising in the period covered by KCCI’s report. More than 600 people reactivated cards in each of the two months before the report, and more than 500 signed up for new cards in the preceding two weeks, KCCI reported.
