Center, Tina Scott, James Prendergast Library executive director, discussing library finances with Jamestown City Council Monday. The proposed 2017 city budget will cut library funding by 71 percent. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

Tina Scott, James Prendergast Library executive director, didn’t mince words when discussing the impact the $250,000 cut in city financing will have on library operations next year.

On Monday, local agencies that receive financing from the city budget were invited to discuss their funding with Jamestown City Council. Scott said the proposed $250,000 cut to $100,000 in the 2017 executive budget is ”close to Armageddon” for the library. She said the $350,000 the library received from the city in 2016 accounted for about a third of their $1.1 million budget.

”This cut will trigger a whole domino effect,” she said.

Scott said the reduction in city funding will impact how much the library will receive from the state. She said it will be difficult for the library to remain open for 55 hours a week next year with their current financial outlook.

She said to be considered a central library system by the state, the James Prendergast Library needs to be open for 55 hours a week. If the library isn’t opened long enough to be a central library, Scott said they will lose $75,000 in state aid and a portion of $27,000, of which the James Prendergast Library receives $18,000, that they share with the Olean Public Library.

Library officials have been working to find other sources of revenue, Scott said. Earlier this year, there was a public vote to fund the library $850,000 annually. In June, 60 percent of voters in the Jamestown Public Schools District turned down the library’s funding initiative.

In August, library officials approved offering a retirement incentive to three employees. In September, R. Thomas Rankin, James Prendergast Library Board of Trustees president, said their goal is to save around $100,000 next year through the retirement incentive.

Library officials also tried to raise revenues in 2015 by proposing to sell some of the oil paintings from the Mary Prendergast will and estate. In 2015, between August and December, library officials discussed a potential art auction of oil paintings with the proceeds going toward the library’s endowment fund to pay for operating expenses. In August 2015, the library board passed a resolution to hire Sotheby’s of New York City to manage an art auction. Rankin has said none of the oil paintings from the Prendergast family would be sold and library officials wouldn’t sell any of their Roger Tory Peterson’s prints.

Following the board’s decision to hire the auction house, a local group started a Facebook page in September entitled ”Save Local Art.” The Facebook group expressed their desire to see the artwork remain in Jamestown, while urging the library board to consider other cost-saving measures.

In December 2015, the library board approved a resolution to not sell any of the art for 12 months. The board approved a proposal from Jesse and Cathy Marion of Houston, Texas, that they would not auction any of the oil paintings from the Prendergast will or estate or from the Packard family in exchange for $60,000 in 2016. Rankin said, at the time, the goal is to raise $1 million to $2 million for the library’s endowment fund to finance the library’s operations for the sustainable future. However, he said library officials would focus their attention on finding community-minded individuals or organizations that would want to buy the oil painting collection to keep it in Jamestown.

Following the failed public funding initiative, Rankin said library officials will once again have to decided to sell the artwork in order to finance library operations. He also said, in June, no community members have approached library officials about purchasing the art to keep it local.

”We’re working on filling a huge cut, but we’re not there,” Scott said Monday.

Anthony Dolce, Ward 2 Councilman and Finance Committee chairman, said he feels the James Prendergast Library is a local ”treasure” and a valuable asset for the community. However, with the proposed 2017 budget having an $878,000 deficit, Dolce said the city has their own financial problems as well. He added that it is doubtful they will be able to restore any of the library’s funding for next year.

In other business, Joni Blackman, Fenton History Center executive director, also reported to council about the Fenton’s plans for next year. She said they are hopeful they will receive state funding from the Consolidated Funding Application process through the Regional Economic Development Council program to install an elevator at the Fenton Mansion to comply with Americans With Disabilities Act requirements. Even if they are unsuccessful in procuring state funding, Blackman said they have the funding to install the elevator next year.

The proposed city budget has $16,000 in funding for the Fenton History Center, which goes toward maintaining the city-owned building. No funding cut has been proposed in the 2017 executive budget for the Fenton History Center

Vince DeJoy, city development director, reported on the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency. He said the department was busy this year with neighborhood rental and owner-occupied rehabilitation projects. Also, he said there have been 23 demolitions so far this year, with more still to be torn down by the end of the year. He said the city has a ”dynamic” working relationship with the Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation, who assist the city with state funding to demolish the condemned properties.

No spokesperson from the Jamestown Area Senior Center attended the budget work session. The 2017 proposed budget has cut financing completely to the Jamestown Area Senior Center. This year, the senior center received $2,500 from the city.

In the 2017 executive budget released by Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi on Oct. 11, there was an $878,736 deficit. Teresi said, when he released the proposed budget, that city officials and council members will need to work together, and with partners at the state and county levels, to identify new revenue and restructuring opportunities to close the deficit. Council has until Dec. 1 to pass a 2017 fiscal plan or the executive budget becomes next year’s spending plan.

The proposed tax levy increase is $150,220, or .96 percent. With the proposed increase, the city has reached its constitutional tax limit. The constitutional tax limit is the amount of money a municipality can ask its property taxpayers to provide compared to the total assessed property value in the community.

The tax levy increase is $42,955 above the state’s tax cap limit, which is .69 percent for the city in 2017. The proposed tax rate is $23.77 per $1,000 assess property value. This is 18 cent increase, or .76 percent. The executive budget totals $35,052,304.

Since the release of the executive budget during City Council budget deliberation, city officials have been able to find around $53,000 in savings and additional revenues. City Council is scheduled to vote on the spending plan at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28, in council chambers on the second floor of the City Municipal Building, located at 200 E. Third St.