Library hours increasing

While many local governments have slashed services because of bleeding budgets, the Butte County Board of Supervisors has increased some services with the adoption of the county’s 2013-14 fiscal-year budget.

Included in the extended services are increased Butte County Library hours, projected to go into effect this fall, when the Biggs branch will be open on Saturdays for six hours, and the Chico, Gridley, Oroville and Paradise branches will open on Sundays for four hours each. (To be fair, the city of Chico kicked down some of the funding to the county to keep the local library open.)

The county will also reinstitute its weed-abatement program in which CalFire will respond to hazard-abatement calls and inspect properties as well. The county’s starting general fund balance, which won’t be known for sure until sometime in August or September, is expected to be around $15,250,000.