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Publish employee names / salaries in Town Report?
Additions to the Library Budget?
Funding for Outside Agencies
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Should library budget amounts removed by the Selectmen be restored?
Summary
The selectmen review and approve all department budgets before they are submitted to the budget committee. They make changes - sometimes up, sometimes down - to those budgets. The final product - after changes have been made by the selectmen - is what the budget committee sees and discusses.
The Library budget was not unique - the selectmen made changes - removing the items discussed below. What was different here was that the Library Board of Trustees chose to challenge those changes, and make a direct request to the Budget Committee.
The four items removed by the selectmen were as follows:
Item |
Cost |
New Telephone System |
$4,000 |
New Library Book Drop |
$3,040 |
Video Surveillance System |
$8,069 |
10 Computers |
$10,200 |
The selectmen also refused to consider the addition of $15,000 to cover the costs of moving from the old library to the new library.
The selectmen's reasoning for these cuts was that these were items that should have been factored into the construction costs of the new building, and paid for with private donor funds.
Debate
Arguments in favor of adding these line items back into the budget:
- With the exception of the surveillance system, the need for these items is driven not by the existence of the new library building, but instead by the continued significant growth in library use by Gilford residents. (Circulation has increased from 67,000 in 2001 to over 100,000 in 2007). The current phone system is outdated, and can no longer be properly serviced. The current book drop is too small, and is unable to handle returns of audio-visual materials. The video surveillance system - though intended for installation in the new building - responds to the increased use of the library, and would help head off the need for additional staff to monitor all entrances, exits and separate rooms. Finally, the 10 computers respond to an ever-increasing demand for public-access computers in the library.
- The Friends of the Library, in cooperation with some very generous private citizens, have done an outstanding job in raising over $3.5 million to cover all cost of construction. They have gone beyond their original budget in order to put the best possible systems into the new library that will ultimately save money for years to come, i.e. the geo-thermal heating / cooling system, extra insulation, etc. Gilford residents would expect to pay for a small fraction of the costs associated with furnishing the new library and moving into it.
Arguments against adding these line items back into the budget:
- Gilford residents should not be asked to pay for anything that could in any way be related to the new library (other than increased costs for maintenance and utilities which have already been approved in the DPW budget).
Outcome
By a vote of 9 to 2, the committee voted against including these five items into the budget.
Opinion
The selectmen, and the budget committee members who voted against these items, are taking the concept of a "free library" too far.
The generosity and commitment to the town of Gilford that is demonstrated by those private citizens who have funded this new library was recognized and accepted by the voters last March. By a vote of 1,417 to 478 - Gilford approved the warrant article that stated:
"To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Selectmen to accept the donation from the Friends of the Gilford Library, a non-profit corporation, by deed, of land and buildings~to house a new Gilford Public Library, provided that the building has been substantially completed and a certificate of occupancy has been issued prior to conveyance."
The selectmen and budget committee are now imposing a new interpretation on this language, broadening it to read something like this...
"To see if the Town will accept the gift of a new library building and the land on which it will stand, and further, that the Town require the donors to pick up all costs of furnishing and outfitting the new building, and that those same donors cover all costs associated with our continued and growing use of the library facility itself."
Is that really what Gilford residents expected then, or expect now?
If the library needs new computers to respond to the needs of our residents, should that cost be borne by those same private citizens who have presented us with a $3.5 million asset? Similarly, if the library needs a new bookdrop to handle the huge increase in circulation experienced in recent years, do we expect someone else to pick up that bill as well?
Not in my opinion.
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