Paterson Vetoes Library Funds

You may not have noticed it among the nearly 7,000 vetoes New York Governor David Paterson signed in the past couple of days, but among the others he vetoed the money that the Legislature had put in next year's budget for aid to libraries.  The specific library funds lost were the member items, sums directed to specific libraries or library systems.  Of special interest to fans of the Pleasant Valley Free Library was the veto of $27,500 for the Mid-Hudson Library System.  While this was actually the largest library member item in the veto list, thousands of dollars in grants for specific libraries, many of them in Westchester, were also stricken.

These funds had been approved in an earlier budget year, but were scheduled for this year.  Indeed, because of the state's fiscal problems, no new member items had been included in the budget for this year.

An override of any one of the vetoes requires two-thirds of both houses of the Legislature voting to overturn it.  While this might be possible in the Assembly, it seems unlikely in the Senate unless ten or twelve members from one party vote along with all of the members of the other party. Given the current political stonewalling by Republicans and the general disarray among Democrats, it seems likely that most or all of the vetoes will be sustained.