Toronto’s budget committee has voted to cut an extra $7 million from the budget of the library system, a decision that will mean reducing some combination of branch hours, reading programs and book purchases if it’s approved by council next week.

Defying Mayor Rob Ford’s demand for a 10 per cent cut, the library board voted in the fall to approve a cut of only 5.9 per cent, or $10 million. But council has the final say, and the conservative-dominated budget committee voted Monday to force the board to meet Ford’s target.

The committee also voted to save two of seven threatened school pools. Both are located in communities represented by Ford allies — a fact the conservatives said was coincidental and left-leaning Ford critics said was not.

The committee’s library proposal would leave it to the board to decide where to find the extra $7 million. Chief librarian Jane Pyper says the only realistic options are cutting branch hours and the collections budget, or eliminating services such as literacy programs and the Bookmobile.

Left-leaning councillors said the beloved library system should not be forced to meet Ford’s target when more than 10 other city entities were permitted to make smaller cuts and the police actually got a budget increase. But the board’s chair, Ford ally Councillor Paul Ainslie, said library hours are not a top priority for most residents.

“I’ve heard comments made that, you know, not every department’s made the 10 per cent target. But I’ll tell you, even as chair of the Toronto Public Library board, if I had to look at a choice between police officers and libraries having longer hours, I think most people would say to you they would rather have more police on the street,” Ainslie told reporters.

According to Pyper, $5.4 million could be saved by cutting 19,444 hours at 59 branches — 7 per cent of all hours in the system. Council and the board, however, are far more likely to cut programs than hours.

As expected, the seven-member committee voted to spend $400,000 to save 58 student nutrition programs and $2.1 million to avoid eliminating, as proposed, recreation programming at 12 community centres located in schools.

The committee also voted to save programs at pools in the wards of two of Ford’s executive committee members, Ainslie (Ward 43, Scarborough East) and Jaye Robinson (Ward 25, Don Valley West).

The budget chief, Councillor Mike Del Grande, proposed sparing any pool located more than 3 kilometres from another city pool. The only two that fill the bill are in Bedford Park Community Centre and Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute.

“He could have worded it: ‘Save only those swimming pools where you’re represented by a member of the executive committee,’” said left-leaning Councillor Gord Perks. “It pays to be on the executive.”

Still on the chopping block are the pools at Frankland Community Centre, Gordon A. Brown Middle School, Hillcrest Community Centre, Runnymede Collegiate and S H. Armstrong Community Recreation Centre.

The committee voted to reject a proposal to discontinue Wheel-Trans service for about 800 dialysis patients. Its recommendations go to Ford’s executive committee on Thursday, then to council next Tuesday for a three-day meeting.

Meanwhile, Occupy Toronto members are planning to protest around the clock in Nathan Phillips Square during the council session. “There are definitely plans to camp out,” said Occupy’s Mischa Saunders.

The budget committee approved both the $9.4 billion operating budget and the $2.8 billion capital budget. This year’s capital budget mostly goes to keeping the city’s assets in good repair rather than expanding facilities.

For example, the TTC wasn’t awarded the money to buy 54 buses that will be needed in 2013 if it is to carry out a plan to prevent half of the rush-hour service cuts that had been threatened. The committee endorsed the $45 million plan in principle but said the city can’t afford it at this time.

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Using a phrase they have repeated zealously over the last two weeks, left-leaning councillors repeatedly argued that the budget demonstrates Ford’s “radical conservative agenda.”

Right-leaning councillors retorted that the budget actually represents an effort to return the city to solid fiscal footing in the wake of the wasteful spending of the David Miller era.