Another basic purpose of government is to enable citizens to support
one another's needs even though we don't all require the same services.
We provide the support because someone else requires it and as a
community we have agreed that we have an obligation to provide the
support. This practice finds its roots in historic activities like barn
raising or pooling grain in good times so that all can share in the
surplus when times are bad. We can, as a group, accomplish what
individuals cannot.
For example, those residents who live on
highways maintained by the state have little if any use for the dirt
roads where many people live, yet we pay taxes to support that service.
There are many who do not have children, or perhaps never will, who pay
taxes to support the schools. Similarly, there are those of us who do
not use library services that pay taxes to support the needs of those
that do. We do all of these as a community of shared interests.
The
Moretown Memorial Library is an example of a community sharing
resources. A few who are opponents of supporting the library state that
40 percent of the town's residents are unlikely to be regular patrons
of the library. The point missed here is that 60 percent of Moretown
residents could regularly patronize the library. Also, those few who
oppose supporting the library fail to understand the function and value
of a public library to a community.
Other than the facts that
the library has been serving our community for 86 years, that persons
in our community and the Friends nonprofit organization have donated
much time, money and effort into improving the library's facility and
services for the past three years, and that budgets are reviewed and
discussed annually at pre-Town Meeting and at select board meetings and
approved by the voters, the following may be helpful.
- The
library has been maintained by the town for 86 years. The Friends
organization, cognizant of the town's tight budget situation, has made
improvements to the library without a request for additional funds.
-
School libraries and community libraries complement one another and
provide services of a different nature. Libraries serve as centers of
community activities for children and adults and also can reach out to
the community to provide services to those unable to travel. Library
hours are designed to meet community needs and do not conform to school
hours. The library also provides internet and computer access to those
unable to provide their own and instruction to adults and children for
use of the technology.
- A shifting of library services to a
school library simply shifts costs elsewhere. Heating, electrical and
payroll costs continue in order to cover those hours the community
requires. We are open until 8 p.m. four nights a week and may expand
the evening hours. The library is open all year.
- Transportation cost savings now realized would shift to the
library users if they had to make a 12 or more mile roundtrip each time
they wanted to access library services in another town. The net cash
effect could be little if any and at a cost of losing the community
cohesion that a library can bring.
- Kellogg-Hubbard charges
Moretown residents $37 per patron and $44 per family. Waitsfield
charges $15 and Waterbury $10 for most adults.
- The
Kellogg-Hubbard Library received funds from the following towns in 2009
for the privilege of using the library without individual or family
fees: Berlin, $12,557; Calais, $24,489; E. Montpelier, $32,296;
Middlesex, $25,543; and Worcester, $16,739.
Circulation in 2008
for each town was 4,072, 11,878, 16,014, 12,777 and 15,633,
respectively. In 2008 circulation for the Moretown Library was 5,260
with over 350 patrons.
- The per property tax cost of the
library in 2010 is unknown. The select board has not finalized the
budget and the tax rate won't be known for some time. What we do know
is that in 2009 the library represented .032 percent of each of our tax
bills, or $3.20 for each $1,000 you paid in 2009. This is a bargain for
the service received.
- When library expenditures were in the
$2,000 to $3,000 range there were little or no services being provided.
We moved circulation from 192 in 1992 to 5,260 in 2008. That's a 2,640
percent increase in community service for a budget increase of 482
percent. In other words we are getting more than five times the bang
for our buck than we did in 1992.
Given these facts and
advantages to our community, it is clear that the Moretown Memorial
Library is an asset that the town is using at little cost. Those who
oppose the library, if they are truly concerned about costs, should
shift their efforts to those that would better serve the community such
as volunteering services or contributing to the library's collection.
Tom Allen lives in Moretown.
