DATE: Thursday, May 8, 1997                 TAG: 9705080367

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   78 lines

LIBRARY PATRONS SAY BUDGET BINDS SYSTEM TOO TIGHTLY NORFOLK COUNCIL VOWS TO TRY TO FIND MORE MONEY IN PROPOSED BUDGET.

To make her point that the city's libraries need more money, Pam Brewer faced the City Council Wednesday night and held up three tattered books - the entire collection of books on weather in the Larchmont branch library, she said.

Then she reeled off publication dates: 1961, 1965, 1966. A book on volcanoes dates to 1946, she said.

``There's been so much science in the last 30 years that these books have been rendered obsolete by satellites and computer technology,'' Brewer said during a public hearing on the city's proposed 1997-98 budget. The council is scheduled to vote on the budget May 20.

Brewer, a parent and member of the Friends of the Norfolk Public Library, said later: ``If you go to any branch library, the books are very old. The librarians would replace them in a heartbeat if they had the money - but they don't.''

The state of the city's library system, which in the proposed budget would receive only about $250,000 out of a $1 million request, was on the minds of many of the approximately 200 who showed up at Chrysler Hall.

Library backers wore red stickers on their coats that said, ``Library Advocacy Now!''

Members of the City Council indicated that they will try to find more money for the library system. Supporters say more money is needed to update collections, buy computers and audio-visual material and hire additional staff.

The public hearing on the budget is an annual ritual giving residents a chance to suggest how their tax dollars should be spent.

As in past years, educational spending was a major concern. Also, several speakers voiced worries about proposed spending reductions on neighborhood programs designed to eliminate blight.

In addition, several representatives of police, firefighters and other city employees asked for cost-of-living increases, saying that they could not keep pace with inflation.

City Manager James B. Oliver proposes a salary adjustment of 2.47 percent for employees, but only workers deemed as meriting the raise would be eligible. City officials told the City Council members on Tuesday that most employees would receive the raise. The budget, however, does not allow for a cost-of-living raise.

``As I have for the last half of a decade, I am again here to implore you to do the fair thing, the right thing,'' said Ray L. Steffens, an Employee Relations Committee representative and vice president of the Norfolk Professional Firefighters. He asked for a 3 percent cost-of-living raise, which he said was equal to the rate of inflation last year.

Police officer Roger Hungerford said salary comparisons showed that the police salaries in Norfolk ranked 5th among the six cities in Hampton Roads, or 8.8 percent below the six-city average.

``Why are you professing a renaissance downtown and say that we are going to be market leaders, yet Norfolk lags when compared to employee benefits?'' Hungerford said.

On education, Oliver proposes to fully fund the School Board's $209.7 million request. But representatives for the city's two major teacher groups - normally rivals - said they had formed a coalition to speak as one for more money.

``The problem is that the School Board, which you appoint, has built the school budget around what the city has said it will fund, rather than building (it) around what the schools need,'' said Marian Flickinger, president of the Norfolk Federation of Teachers.

More money is needed for 34 more alternative classrooms for disruptive children, for pre-kindergarten classes and for teacher raises, she said.

``We can't defer the dreams of today's youth,'' said Shirley George, president of the Education Association of Norfolk.

About 50 people signed up to speak on the operating budget, while another 40 wanted to talk about the School Board's decision to build a new Taylor Elementary School in West Ghent.

The debate over Taylor has divided the community, and some residents are pressuring the City Council to overturn the board's decision.

But Mayor Paul D. Fraim said Wednesday that the City Council did not plan to question the board's unanimous vote to rebuild rather than renovate the school. The city budget over the next two years contains the funding to build a new Taylor.

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