Especially if the system were to focus on keeping only the most popular branches open later, rather than each of the 27 locations in the system.

There’s a bigger issue with the math: it assumes that each employee of the library system is required to keep the branches open an hour or two later. I agree that the ad is passive-aggressive and annoying, but the $168,000 can purchase 11,200 employee-hours at $15/hour. Even over the course of a year, that’s…