Library Budget Question on the Ballot
Tomorrow, Nov. 3rd, is Election Day here and around the state. On the ballot in Hudson and Greenport is a proposition to increase support to the Hudson Area Library. I have been working on this initiative and pass along the following reasons to go to the polls and say, “Yes” at the Library Budget line.
Hudson provides $48,000 per year to support the library and this has been unchanged for a decade. Greenport provides support of $5,500. This tiny tax support puts our local library at the bottom of the pile in the Mid-Hudson Libraries consortium. Purchases of new books and maintenance of even minimal services are barely possible. Keeping a professional librarian on staff is barely possible. The library has been running a deficit for years and is about to exhaust its endowment. So, voting yes tomorrow will save the library and put it on a footing where we can begin to think about creating a level of services that will meet expanding demands for access to books, magazines, Internet, childrens’ reading needs, and more.
A Yes vote will increase public tax-based support for the library from $53,500 per year to #136,500 at the cost of roughly $2.50 per person per month.
Libraries are an important element in a knowledge based world. Hudson needs to meet the challenge of providing everyine with access to the knowledge of the world.
