Fargo Balks at Outsourced Library's Budget Request

摘要

When the Fargo (N.Dak.) Public Library requested a 32% budget increase for 2003, Mayor Bruce Furness began to wonder whether he could still afford a privatized city library. The Maryland-based management firm LSSI has asked for $1.95 million,some $300,000 more than Furness had proposed. The higher figure includes a 22% pay increase for LSSI-employed Fargo Public Library Director of Operations Charles Pace--to $105,537--and an additional $125,000 for administration and overhead, according tothe August 13 Fargo Forum. Furness said the city was not dissatisfied with the job LSSI was doing, but "it's just a question of, can we afford it?" The firm's two-year contract expires in January. As of early September, details of the contract were still being negotiated, according to LSSI East Coast Director Tom Hehman and library board Chair Betty Kerns.