Archive: Opinions

EditorialI have been extremely crabby since Monday.  I think it comes down to this -- I have always loved it when people build things, and I hate it when people tear things down.  I've never had much sense of scale about that -- when I was little I overreacted when a friend popped a balloon just for the heck of it.  So when Dan Pace brought his petition to the school board to hold a vote to torpedo the Lansing Library he was inadvertently pushing my button in a big way.

The people behind the library have spent ten years and plenty of their own time and money to give the community a library.  They raised private funds for two capital projects to make it physically great before asking taxpayers to help keep it going.  They were fiscally conservative -- no mortgage, no loan.  They had book sales, bake sales, raffles.  They paid for it and gave it to the community.

And what a gift!  In a town of under 11,000 (less if you don't count the part of the Village that isn't part of the Lansing School District), the institution has 2828 library card-carrying patrons and counting.  That's over 25% of every man, woman and child in Lansing.  And counting.  The tax is miniscule.  For most people it is less than the cost of one new hard cover book per year.  Take out two books per year and you've already made a profit.

Pace had a lot of his facts wrong when he presented the petition, but the key fact was right -- the library budget can be raised or lowered only by a public vote.  The library isn't asking for a raise.  He's asking to lower the tax to nothing.  He says he isn't asking to abolish the library (he can't, actually), just to take it off the tax roles.

Last year Mr. Pace told me that it isn't just the library tax, but that town, county, state, and federal money would also go to the library.  All paid by you and me.  Multi-dipping at taxpayer expense.  He said that if nobody took it for things we don't need, taxes would be lower.  I was impressed with that argument.  It's true -- look at all the flak Congress takes (and ignores) about the 'earmarks' they attach to important legislation, just so somebody can get something for nothing.

But I came to the conclusion that while I agree with it in theory, can you even imagine New York State, for example, taxing us less because we didn't try to get money back into our community?  Can you imagine New York City saying, 'We don't want State money, thanks, because it is more responsible of us and it would lower everyone's taxes.'

I concluded that the only way to keep that money in our community is to do what everyone else does -- ask for it.  That may take it out of my pocket whenI want it to stay in, but at least me and my neighbors get something for it.  In addition the library provides employment for a full time librarian and a part time clerk, good for our local economy and tax base.  Public libraries increase property values, good for local homeowners.  And it is providing a valuable ancillary resource to our schools that are dealing with their own huge budget problems.

He also told me that another taxing authority isn't to be trusted.  Taxes may be low now, but what about the future?  To that I say we are getting such a tremendous value for next to nothing now.  If the library board gets out of hand and wants more money than we think they should have, let's get a petition then.  I'll even sign it.  But for now these are the people who gave us a beautiful facility and an amazing resource for free and then asked for a pittance to provide the services Lansing people were asking for that were beyond the capabilities of volunteers alone.

As I listened to Mr. Pace address the school board two things made me particularly crabby.  The first was that I thought he was very generous in offering the services of others in his quest to make the library all-volunteer.  I didn't notice him offering to volunteer himself.  The second was the piece about multiple taxation.

To be fair, he didn't mention that in the Monday meeting.  But in my conversation with him last year I thought he made some valid points about it. 

But last December the school board asked us to approve two capital projects that would not cost Lansing taxpayers a cent in additional school taxes.  According to that theory of multiple taxation the schools are getting a lot more of our State tax money for those projects -- and oh yes, we will pay those state taxes -- than the library will probably get in its lifetime.  So why didn't he chastise the school board for taking that money?

Times are tough.  I don't want to pay the high taxes we pay here.  I knew New York was going to mean high taxes when I moved here, but I don't think I really understood how that would affect my life.  Now that I do I am not thrilled about it and in general don't think we should be taxed more.

But gee whiz, what Mr. Pace and his supporters are doing is killing a bug with a boulder.  It's not $900 per year for a sewer.  It's about 20 bucks for most people.  Less than a meal for two.  Less than going to the movies.  Less than buying a new hardcover.  About the cost of four bags of Doritos.

Working with the school board as a community member interested in guiding that budget process would save Lansing taxpayers a lot more than un-funding the library.  Or the County.  Or the State.  Eating fewer Doritos would do the same.

I don't think Mr. Pace is all wrong.  Both library votes were close.  The library actually is a new taxing authority.  It's not a necessity of life. 

But when is it going to end?  Do we worry about losing it every year?  If it is unfunded will we be faced with funding it again a year later?  Is this tug of war going to go on forever, demoralizing community members on both sides and dissuading others from putting themselves forward to make Lansing a better place?

Finally there's that button of mine -- this isn't just some stupid ballon that someone decided to pop.  Defunding the library would effectively be tearing down something good and valuable that people have sweated to build.  It's absurd to say you are supporting the institution when you are pulling the financial rug out from under it.

For so little money that library is something that everyone in this community can be proud of.  It has been built in the tradition of the Lansing Lion's Club, which has given the Town a community center, pavilions in our parks, a band stand, and countless other things.  As long as that library tax is as low as it is I don't think it's too much.  I'm willing to pay the cost of a book to get a whole library.  The volunteers have given back to this community in spades.  The community should give back to itself a little.  At least in this case.  At least in my opinion.

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