414 Controversies

It is budget time for the Towns in Dutchess County and soon to be voting time for the three libraries in our neighborhood that are going to the public for permission to increase the portion of the budget supplied by Town fundings. The timing tends to pit those in charge of the Town budget against those asking for higher library funding. In Pleasant Valley, Town Supervisor John McNair gave an interview in which he essentially blamed his budget problems on the Library and followed it up with a letter to the Poughkeepsie Journal in which he flung about percentages and said this is not the time to fund a library. His wildest charge is that the "library administration is seeking the funds in order to increase staff and administrative salaries and to ensure that the same rates are charged to nonresidents as to our town residents."  I don't even know what he means by "the same rates are charged to nonresidents as to our town residents" since nearly all services from the Library to residents and nonresidents alike are free--but he may be referring to a 25 cents per book charge for ordering a book from another library, which is only charged to nonresidents (in effect now and covering some of the cost to the Library of getting that book, but only about $1,000 for the whole year in any case).

But the idea that the all-volunteer Library Board of Trustees might be trying to add $95,000 to the admittedly low salaries of our 4.5 paid staff members is completely ridiculous. Pleasant Valley Free Library currently has the 5th largest circulation of libraries in the County, but the salaries of our total combined staff averages $71 per hour opened, while the next smallest average of those 8 libraries is $122 per hour (and the others are considerably higher yet).  Another way to look at this is that our staff handles 31,000 items per member per year, compared to 15,000 items for the next higher paid staff of the top 8.  Only very small libraries that handle a few thousand items per year have lower salary ratios because staff in a very small library can be swamped by the number of volunteers.  (Pleasant Valley Library has 4 times the number of volunteers as staff or more at any given time, but the volume of transactions means that trained staff must be on hand at all times to manage.)

So what portion of the proposed $95,000 increase would go for increase in staff salaries: 4.2%--and that would go only as modest increases to staff that are being paid just about the minimum wage now. The Town supervisor seems to think that the Library "administration" is behind a move to garner big salaries, but in fact the only people who will get raises if the Chapter 414 proposition passes are not only banned by law from working on getting this passed, but for the most part have no idea what the Board is doing.  It is true that the Director knows what the Board is doing, but she is not up for a raise.

In response to the article and letter from the Town Supervisor, the Library Board of Trustees drafted a reply for the Poughkeepsie Journal to publish.  It seems worth repeating here since not everyone in Town reads the papers.  We said:

We read with concern several quotes in your article on 10/21 and a letter to the editor on 10/22 concerning the PV Library budget proposed increase. We want to be sure your readers have all of the facts and accurate information.

Unlike the town and school district, the Library does not request a new budget every year. In fact, the last time the Library asked for an increase was 2006, and before that, in 1999. So in the last decade, the Library budget has increased only once, and the library has been operating with the same 2006 budget for the last four years. In addition, state and county funding cuts this year remove $30,000 from the Library’s budget each year, permanently.

On November 2, Pleasant Valley residents will vote on a referendum for a Library funding increase. Then the library will stay at the new budget level for at least four years. Clearly, many costs have gone up since 2006, and they will continue to increase.

The Library requests an additional $95,000 annually, increasing the Library portion of the current town budget from 5.4% to 7.3%, a 1.8% increase. This translates to an average cost of $26 per household per year.

We invite you and any Journal readers to review the 2006-2010 Library budget and the proposed 2011-2014 budget, available to the public at the Pleasant Valley Library.

Many people rely on our Library – we don’t want to have to cut services to fit within a 2006 budget until 2014.

Times are Tight

The United States seems to be facing recession, and New York State, with its dependence on financial services for tax income, is especially hard hit. Although IBM is doing well, unemployment in Dutchess County is on the rise and the value of houses continues to decline. Locally, I see some empty stores where there used to be thriving businesses. Despite all this, inflation has continued the steady rise in the cost of living.  So it is not surprising that the Town of Pleasant Valley is worried about its expenses and considering the possible need to raise taxes for the next fiscal year.

In an article about this problem on the front page of the October 21 Poughkeepsie Journal,  the Pleasant Valley Town Supervisor Frank Susczynski commented to the effect that the Town has no control over some spending, such as the $265,000 annual allocation to the Library.  Susczynski suggested that that amount can only be changed through a Town referendum which residents could petition for.

The newspaper report seems to imply that citizens of Pleasant Valley might petition to have the Library funds lowered.  But the New York State Law that allows association libraries to call referendums on the Town's annual contribution does not permit this. The law envisions a petition put forth by the association library, which is then signed by at least 10 percent of the number of votes cast in the Town in the previous gubernatorial election, that would be used to raise the Town contribution. There seems to be no provision for lowering it. 

Different types of New York State chartered libraries have different means of acquiring funds.  Library District libraries have annual elections of trustees and annual budgets to be approved or disapproved--similar to school districts--for example.  Before 1995, association libraries like the Pleasant Valley Free Library were largely supported by their Town and by donations of various kinds, but there was no guaranteed support at all.  Since 1995 the association libraries have been able to use the petition method, known as "Chapter 414," to guarantee a level of support. 

Times really are tight.  The Pleasant Valley Free Library has started the budget process for 2009.  We are contemplating no new programs, the same staff levels, and the same level of maintaining the collection, but inflation will add thousands of dollars to expenses.  Fortunately, the way we and most other association libraries use our Chapter 414 money is to hoard as much as we can for the first two or three years after a level is set by the Town voters.  Then, as inflation and growth eat away at the Town money each year, the time comes when we can no longer use the money saved and must dip into it until we have used it all. Then it is time for another approach to Town voters. Fortunately, the Library has not reached that point this year, since--as you know--times are tough.