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Parents, students address city council about library fee hikes
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The fees are making the use of library auditoriums a lot more expensive for community programs. Video by ktnv.com
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Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- Parents and students spoke to the Las Vegas City Council Wednesday about library fee hikes.
The fees are making the use of library auditoriums a lot more expensive. The cost went from $10 an hour, to $170 an hour.
The hike was imposed by the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, who said it was forced to raise the rates to balance the budget in these tough times.
Critics say it jeopardizes community programs that can no longer afford theaters for recitals and productions.
Mayor Carolyn Goodman, along with other council members, said Wednesday she is absolutely in favor of the arts, and the council will do what it can to make sure the fees don't go up.
Parents are glad the issue is getting the attention of city leaders.
"What's been different about the city council meeting and county commission meetings is that our representatives are actually interested and they ask questions and they have a little feedback. Certainly they can't discuss it because it's not an agenda item, but it's clearly two-sided; we're interested, we want to hear more and what can we do to learn more about your issue," explained Marci Riedy, a concerned parent who has collected nearly 5,500 petitions against the fee hikes.
Riedy said they're also willing to compromise with the library district to meet somewhere in the middle on the fees.
Several students, who participate in community programs outside of school, also spoke Wednesday and told the city council how the fee hikes would impact them.
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