A Drastic Cut in Funding Proposed for Grinnell

Libraries need stable funding if they are to continue serving the public, but when a political entity such as a Town, County, or State encounters a need to tighten its belt, one of the first notches to go seems to be money for library services. This was brought home to me this morning when I read that Patricia Myers, Town Supervisor for the Town of Poughkeepsie, is proposing to slightly mitigate her proposal for higher Town taxes by cutting $50,000 from Town funding for the Grinnell Library. Although the Grinnell Library is in Wappinger, its service area includes part of the Town of Poughkeepsie, so traditionally a substantial portion of its budget of $439,000 comes from that Town. Given the recent cuts in funding to the Mid-Hudson system by both country and state, it would appear that Grinnell will be in real trouble if Ms. Myers' budget plan is adopted.

New York State some fifteen years ago recognized that libraries need stable funding and provided that free-association libraries, such as Grinnell and the Pleasant Valley Free Library, can obtain a secure funding base if voters in the town the library is in petition for secure town support and then vote to assure it. Voters in Pleasant Valley, for example, will have the opportunity this November 2 to vote for or against providing that kind of stable funding for our Library--the proposition will be on the back side of the ballot, while voting for candidates for office is on the front. Once such a vote favors continuing Library funding by the Town, the amount will remain the same until there is another petition and vote, typically three or more years later depending on the ravages of inflation.

This year the Pleasant Valley Free Library is asking each family in the Town to support the Library by an amount that, when spread across the Town, would amount to an increase of the cost of one Library book a year--or, if you are not a reader, think of it as about the same as two movie DVDs a year or an extra cup of coffee every month. Given recent losses county and state funding, which do not look to be restored in the near future, Pleasant Valley Library needs this increase to keep operating at the same level. And if Pleasant Valley has to cut back hours or services because the proposition fails to pass, using the Grinnell Library instead does not look promising.

Library Finances UPDATED (Again)

The Poughkeepsie Journal on October 27 ran a couple of articles that touched on library finances, a subject much on my mind these days. 

The front page article headed "Mortgage revenue loss freezes salaries" discussed the problems the Town of LaGrange was having in these difficult economic times.  Among other measures to reduce expenses, the paper noted that the LaGrange Library had first asked the Board to increase the allocation of town taxes from $599,280 to $647,222, and had come back with a smaller request of $614,262--calculated from percentage increases of 8% and 2.5%. But even the second request had to be turned down because of the income shortfall, so next year's budget will include just the same $599,280 from the Town as in 2008, despite a 17% increase in library usage in 2008 and the likelihood of an additional increase in usage in 2009.  More and more patrons are checking out more and more items and also using the computers more each year in every library in the County. 

Next door in the Town of Wappinger, the Grinnell Library is going to the voters instead of to the Town Board for an increase.  They are asking for what seems to be a huge 58.8% increase from $314,874 annually to $500,000.  The Grinnell Library is in the Village of Wappingers Falls, and the Village also contributes to it, currently $35,000 a year.  It also serves the Town of Poughkeepsie, which adds another $50,000 per year.  

When a library goes to the voters for an increase, they normally ask for a high percentage increase because this level of funding if approved is normally going to last for several years. The previous increase in Wappinger Town funds for the Grinnell Library, from $100,000 to $314,874 was in 2002, after a vote in 2001.  Some of that first year's additional $214,874 was saved for the future.  Since there was a seven year gap between the 2002 increase and the one being asked for to take effect in 2009 (if passed by the voters), the economics would be that the library saved some of the money each year for three years, then spent all of the fourth year's $314,874 the next year, and used its savings to supplement the income for the last three years. Costs go up each year, but the Town money does not. In fact, the library will have spent more of the Town money than $314,874 in 2008.  I don't have access to the Grinnell Budget, but it is likely that they used something like $400,000 to $450,000 of Wappinger Town money in 2008. When you look at the actual expenditures, the increase from $314,874 to $500,000 is not the nearly 60% jump it would seem to be on the surface.

Adriance Library, which serves both Poughkeepsie City and Town, is also asking for voters to support an increase on November 4.  Adriance needs an additional 8%, which they calculate will cost the average City resident $15 a year and the average Town resident $20 annually.  This is about the cost of one trade paperback book (or less). Recall that  if there were no free libraries, not only would everyone have to pay for the books and other materials that they now can borrow for free, but also publishers would need to raise prices drastically, since the sales of thousands of copies to libraries increases volume which enables lower prices. 

With a smaller circulation and a smaller population served, the Clinton Community Library asked voters to approve an increase in Town funding from $63,000 to $110,000 per year. 

Follow Up:  All three library budget increases were approved by the voters: Adriance by a lopsided vote of 6,107 for to 3,531 against; Grinnell by a closer vote of 2,828 for to 2,358 against; and Clinton by 583 for to 527 against.