County Threatens to Cut Library Funding

At the Library Board meeting last Thursday (November 19), Library Director Daniela Pulice reported on the possible loss of funding from Dutchess County. This normally comes in two parts--$6,000 that is given directly to the Library and $3,000 that is sent to Mid-Hudson to pay for their services. If we lose the funding, we will need to replace the entire $9,000 some way. At the Board meeting, the only likely way would be to cut Library services--hours or staff or purchase of materials--by $9,000, since the budget that was just adopted is extremely tight. At this point, the budget also uses the last of the saved money from the Town, so that is not a possible cushion. ("Saved money from the Town" refers to the money the Town pays because the citizens voted for the amount in what is known as a Chapter 414 vote. The 414 money is a level amount once it has been voted. The long-range Library financial plan was based on saving some of the 414 money from 2007 to use in 2009 to cover higher costs, but with tight budgeting we saved enough to cover costs through 2010, just barely,)

All of the County library funding is supposed to be cut in the budget released by County Executive William Steinhaus. He has cut library funding in the past, but the County Legislature has always overruled him on this point, so the funding was kept in the final budget. This year, however, the chances of the Legislature overriding the Executive are not as good as they have been in the past. According to library officials, it looks as if there are five County Legislators whose vote will be needed but right now is uncertain.

One of the Legislators whose vote is needed is our own Suzanne Horn, a friend of the Pleasant Valley Free Library and a member of the Building Expansion Fundraising Committee. But she also is a Republican, who might go along with Republican Steinhaus, and furthermore, the threat is that there will be a face-off between Town road patrols by the Sheriff's deputies and Library funding. Since both services are needed and it is thought that we can only get funding for one, legislators may be swayed who otherwise are big library supporters.

I urge all friends of the Pleasant Valley Free Library to do what they can to make Suzanne and the other County Legislators aware of how important library services are to the community. If the Steinhaus budget for 2010 stands, then the Pleasant Valley Library Budget, approved last week, falls.