Frankly, I haven't personally felt much pain so far from cuts in local government budgets, but that's about to change. Financial number crunching for the upcoming 2009-2010 fiscal year is revealing further decreases in revenue for Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County. Budgets that have already been worked over with pruning shears are going to feel the fury of the chain saw and I think everyone is going to notice. Layoffs of government workers appear inevitable. Sparks has already been trimming - Reno and Washoe County are primed to prune dozens as dismal revenue forecasts are proving to be correct. Simply put, there will soon be even fewer workers providing a shrinking menu of public services.
One thing a lot of us will notice, starting June 29, is the decrease in public library services. Just as hard times make the library a more valuable resource than ever to ever more people, the Washoe County Library is looking at a 36% decrease in funding and is going to cope with corresponding cuts in employees and operating hours. This is a sad situation considering how important free public libraries are to a civilized society, but we will have to deal with it. Get ready and learn about the days and hours libraries will be open when the change occurs.
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