- By Dan Veaner
- Around Town
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Library Treasurer Cliff Buck is still working on the final amount, but says it looks like LCLC will be asking in the range of 15 or 16 cents per thousand dollars of assessed property value to raise a total of approximately $100,000. Let's put that in perspective. For the average Lansing home assessment of $183.218 that will be less than $30.00 per year. Based on last year's taxes, the same home paid about $177.50 to the Fire District, $305 to the Town, $1,314.31 to the County and $3,363.50 to the School District. Included in the County's taxes school district residents are already paying 49 cents to the County library, more than twice as much as our local library is asking.
So 30 bucks is looking pretty good. But a penny saved is a penny earned, and it's only looking good if you get something of value for the price. What will that money pay for?
Buck says most of the money will go for personnel including a full time Director who will have a Masters of Library Science and a part time librarian. Once chartered the library will be part of the Finger Lakes Library System, making it eligible for inter-library loans from anywhere within the system, and accessible by a comprehensive catalog of books on LCLC's computers. Some of the money will pay for utilities and insurance and the rest will go toward new books and programs. The full time Director/Librarian will mean the library can expand the hours it is open.
On top of that LCLC has a history of fiscal responsibility. Running entirely on donations, it has operated in the black since it opened about five years ago. That includes regular operating expenses, but also includes two capital improvement projects as well. The board has raised the money first and not spent it until they had it. And not spent more than they have.
There is a lot of stress and uncertainty in town about the many proposals that are expected to be presented to voters over the next year or two. The School District may ask for 10% to 13% on top of the 5% operations rise. The Town could be asking for hundreds more for sewer. People are evaluating legitimate need vs. spiraling taxes.
But that $30 seems like a no-brainer. For less than you'd pay for one dinner for two the community gets an expanded resource that already has demonstrated that it is careful with your buck and has established community support.
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