I don’t hate the library!
Farmer's market on the town common
I knew it was just a matter of time. Even in a small town of 4,600 people, decisions are to be made which will please some people and upset others. I just didn’t think the library budget would be the spark that fires up people.
I have heard from a number of concerned citizens of Paxton about my calling for a cut in the library’s budget. My neighbor stopped me in my driveway to express her anger over what the paper had reported about my input on the library budget. I tried to explain to her why I felt the budget was too high, but she didn’t want any part of it. Her reaction, along with the phone calls I have received, makes me think I need to explain.
Budget season in town politics is hectic. The town is going to raise a limited amount of money which will be divided among the many department budgets. Each department head submits a requested budget in December to the Town Administrator. The Town Administrator then compiles the budget proposals into notebooks for each selectman. Then, one-by-one, each department head comes before the Board, and later the Finance Committee, to defend their proposed budgets.
There is a lot to learn for a new selectman, but even I know that in a tough economy we can’t afford to give more money to a department than requested. This is exactly what happened in the case of the library. Allow me to explain.
I was elected as a selectman on January 19th. After attending my first select board meeting, I was told by an experienced selectman that I should attend a Finance Committee meeting to help me get up to speed on the budget process in town. On February 3rd I attended the scheduled Finance Committee meeting. Sitting unacknowledged in the back of the room, I watched as the Finance Committee questioned the Council on Aging representative about their budget, then spent time going over the various DPW budgets with the head of the DPW. The committee ended the interviewing by examining the Tree Warden’s budget. The Tree Warden worked hard to defend his budget request, stating that with hanging limbs, leaning trees, and many stumps near public roadways, he needed to spend some money to ensure public safety. The Finance Committee Chairman explained that public safety is very important, but with the budget as tough as it is, a risk/reward approach is needed. The questioning was quite tough and in depth.
After the questioning ended, the Finance Committee proceeded to approve the Animal Control budget, the Library budget, and the Historical Commission budget with little discussion. By the end of the evening I had taken four pages of notes and had learned a lot, leaving while thinking I wish I had been permitted to ask questions.
OK…OK…What’s the point.
On February 16th it was the select board’s turn to examine, among others, the library budget. The library representatives sat before us explaining why they felt a level funded budget of $148,786 was what the library needed. They explained that at this figure, the library would not meet the MAR (Municipal Appropriation Requirement), but would be able to secure a waiver. To meet this requirement, a municipality must appropriate 2.5% more than the average of the previous three years’ library budget. If the town cannot meet this requirement, then the town may apply for a state waiver. This would allow the library to remain certified which means that Paxton residents would still be permitted to borrow books from other libraries that may not be available in Paxton.
The library is requesting $148,786, yet at the Finance Committee meeting the committee approved a library budget of $155,420. I mentioned this to the other board members but was dismissed by the Town Administrator when he asked, “Why would the Finance Committee approve a budget of more than what was requested?” I stated that I didn’t know, but that is what I had written down. Anyway, we voted to approve the library’s requested budget of $148,786.
Fast forward to the reconciliation meeting. This meeting is a Finance Committee meeting that the selectboard is invited to attend. The purpose is to reconcile the two budgets so that one town budget will be presented to the town at town meeting. Things went smoothly until we got to the library budget. At this point, I mentioned that the library had request a budget of $148,786 and yet the FINCOM had approved a higher number. With the town looking at taking money from the town’s stabilization fund to balance the budget, the selectmen recommended that the library budget be approved at the requested amount, not the higher FINCOM amount. At this point the FINCOM chair informed us that a mistake had been made by the library personnel when they met with us and that the FINCOM number was the correct number. When the selectboard questioned how, the FINCOM argued for the higher number, making it clear that at this time they were not interested in revising their figure. After some intense discussion, the selectboard reluctantly agreed to accept the FINCOM number with the assurance that if the town budget needed to be adjusted, this was the first budget to be changed.
Paxton roads the day after the ice storm of 2008.
The April 26th selectboard meeting brought the news that the Finance Committee had further cut the black top item of the DPW budget by another $15,000 so as to reduce the amount of money needed to take from the town’s stabilization fund. I spoke up and said that it was a good idea to not take too much from stabilization since state experts are predicting the next fiscal year to be much worse than this year. I then said that the FINCOM should consider reducing the library budget to the amount they had requested.
Next day, the Worcester Telegram reports I want to cut the library budget. Nothing could be further from the truth. I just wanted to fund the library budget at the requested amount, not a higher figure. The Highway Department, which has a direct bearing on public safety, received $169,575 (30%) less than they had requested, but the library budget ultimately received recommended funding of $9,223 (6%) more than requested.
This didn’t sound right to me, but judging by people’s reaction I must admit…
I was wrong.
