The library is currently only open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays during those respective hours.
Parks and Recreation Director Donna Miller said the annual impact will be about $85,000, and the money the Council approved last week was to reimburse the Maricopa County Library District for six months of operations at the facility.
“Double the hours essentially doubles the budget required,” Ms. Miller said.
The Parks and Rec Advisory Commission is expected to set the new hours at its Monday, Oct. 28 meeting. Those will go into effect in January.
Ms. Miller said the city is hoping to align the hours with the new Asante Branch Library, 16763 W. Vereda Solana Drive, when it opens in January. She said city staff will monitor attendance reports to see if its worth continuing the hours next year as part of the regular budget process.
“Having a library open six days a week gives the children an opportunity to enhance their literacy skills,” said Councilman Ken Remley, who serves the area. “Many of the children who live there don’t have a computer at home like most of us do. They don’t have Internet access like most of us do. They don’t have the ability to do homework like most of us do. Small wonder their grade scores aren’t as good as they would otherwise be.”
When it first opened in the 1980s, the Hollyhock Library operated 24 hours a week when Surprise was still a town. But it was also still in the main populated part of Surprise.