Matt Blunt Balances Budget on Backs of Library Consortiums

After MOBIUS Subsidy Cut, Missouri Universities Must Pay More:

A Missouri House and Senate conference committee approved Governor Matt Blunt's proposal to cut $650,000 in funding for MOBIUS, the Missouri Bibliographic Information User System (MOBIUS), a statewide consortium of 60 members, mostly academic libraries. With library budgets already under stress, library officials had blasted the gubernatorial plan. The elimination of the subsidy will result in a 36 percent increase in dues for members, who already pick up more than three-quarters (roughly $1.5 million) of the consortium’s annual expenses. MOBIUS executive director George Rickerson told the Kansas City Star that, when MOBIUS was formed in 1998 "one of the fundamental assumptions" was that it would be a state-local partnership.

When you expect a higher government to continue, perpetually, to contribute money to a program, you're making a dangerous assumption.

Matt Blunt has to make tough choices. Although this particular program was undoubtedly nice, it remains a nicety whose partial state funding should be revoked. The universities can pick up the slack.