WHEC article on voters rejecting the proposal in December.
D&C article on the Library Trustees decision to not go ahead with a second vote.
Here's a link to the Citizens For An Affordable Fairport Library website, which is very informative.
Remember back in June 2010 I did a blog where I accused the Irondequoit Library Board of hiring a Political Consultant to focus on the "one library campaign" for a central location for a new consolidated library?
The comments from some hissed at me that I was wrong, and they were not focusing on a consolidated library, not focusing on a new building, it was about getting the community more involved with the libraries and blah blah blah.
I'm always wrong. :/
So, I go to the latest library minutes that are on their website - December 2010- and right in there, Libby Post says:
"the library building issue is not as important as putting the library on solid financial footing."
Building issue? I thought this wasn't about a "new" building, but about branding and getting the community to love the libraries?
So, I head on over to Communication Services Facebook page, and there WAS an entry on there from April 15th, 2010 which said:
"Up in Irondequoit (Rochester)to speak with the Library Board about a building project..."
Wait.....what? Building project? I thought it wasn't about a "new" building?
Hmmm - I guess that's why just recently, that Facebook Entry was removed.
I just checked Communication Services FB again (around 7:30) and the comment is back on there now:
But, the entry from November 2010 is still on there, where she says she hopes Irondequoit, Fairport, and Highland will soon have new libraries.
Boy, was I wrong in accusing the Library Board of hiring the Consultant to work on the "one" library concept and campaign for a new library.
I guess I'm really wrong when I accuse the Library Board of wanting to be their own taxing district so they can raise taxes and their budget so they can get the moola for that "new library" that they're not trying to campaign for with the consultant that was hired with taxpayer money.
While Governor Cuomo is asking people to do more with less, and he wants to consolidate government, and he has spoken many times on how there are too many taxing districts - the IPL are going to ask the taxpayers to vote for increasing the government entities that can levy taxes on them.
Campaign Software entry (they have software to help secure grants too, but campaigns are more important):
20 comments:
Hey Sherlock Holmes ! Great work !
In fairport Post announced another vote to "fans" in early january, before any board announcement.
Libby Post recently announced the purchase of sophisticated campaign software for her library referendum projects. A better choice may have been the Fund Raising Software that was not selected.
Canandaigua Woods Library raised $3-4 M in donations and grants for their new library project. In 2008 an overview of Lakewood's community effort to raise funds for library expansion was presented to the IPL Board.
An old Prep School in beautiful New England chose a modern renovation:
Fisher-Watkins Library underwent a digital transformation
Jax,
What a blog - Love when the truth smacks us in the face!
Libby, Libby, Libby - We believe you - NOT! :)
Great job as usual Jax! :)
But there really is a library building issue. It doesn't have to be about a new building. It might just be to really expand what we have. It is embarrassing to use a 48 year old library that is too small and is inadequate in so many ways. Until the town government gets going and finally does something about these decrepit library buildings there WILL be a library building issue. Most towns have remodeled their libraries a couple of times or even built new ones since I-town did anything. Sorry, paint and carpet doesn't do it. I want to plug in my laptop. I want to sit in a comfortable chair. I want to look out the window. I want kids to have their own place so the rest of the building is quiet. Is this too much to ask? While we endlessly wrangled about something that should be a no-brainer literally every other town has done this, some more than once. It is an embarrassment and something for us to be ashamed of. Yes, finances are bad but they weren't always. This should have been done years ago! I wish Ms. Post was working on a new library. At least somebody would be doing something to improve things here. A library is the best thing a town can do for residents. Don't tell me about high taxes. The police blow money like drunken sailors. When you go to sell your house to some nice young family you'd better hope they don't ask about the library. They'll run for another town to live in when they see ours!
Canandaigua raised $3-4 million in gifts and grants for a new library. Lakewood raised funds without taxing. Towns all over the country do this. Irondequoit Officials have felt the path to the future was through new and higher taxes. Irondequoit has the highest taxes in the country. Property values continue to decline due to increasing tax burdens. Officials have chosen to pay truck drivers over $85,000, police over $100,000 while paying two police forces and using only one. Infrastructure crumbles. Reserves are gone. Penfield's State of the Town presentation last week featured a town tax chart with Irondequoit glowing at the top. Their rate of $2.50 included funding a library and one of the best Parks and Recreation Departments in the State. They continue to cut every year. Read the first few pages of their new Comprehensive Plan and get a feeling for how planning just might have some merit. Irondequoit's unfinished plan is a mess of 535 pages and fails to address the library issue.
but tgolan you are quoted in the d and c as supporting ANOTHER taxing district!! You complain about Iron being the highest taxes in the county and then you advocate for more?
I love how everyone else is an idiot if they dont follow YOUR plans. I know you are a successful business man and I appreciate that you can take time out of your busy work schedule to educate the masses in Irondequoit but I think I would like to hear what Libby says. I cant believe the lib spent $24k on this study so I am sure it will be good.
Oh and Mr Golan, speaking of fundraising isnt there already a foundation set up for fundraising? Hasnt there been one over the last what 6 years? How much $ has been raised?
Just think another $23k of seliing books and they will have paid for this new study.
So the Town is broke and the library is broke but we came up with $24,000 for a library consultant...
A consultant whose main purpose is to get the library board what they want. ONE BIG EXPENSIVE LIBRARY!
From Libby's Communication Services web site - "Libby now uses her political communication skills to help libraries throughout New York State wage successful building referendum, charter change and budget votes."
"Since 2005, Communication Services has worked with dozens of libraries to effectively position themselves in their communities for successful votes and enhanced community support."
Yes, we were all born yesterday...
Anonymous 1, wants to plug in a laptop, to sit in a comfortable chair and look out the window. I have the perfect place for you to do that - Starbucks!
Irondequoit is almost fully developed, we have financial concerns like the whole nation does. That $24,000 wasted on politics could have helped the library with supplies etc.
Now they came up with this taxing district idea in a time when we are supposed to be consolidating services...Hmmmmm.
Maybe the library board should really concentrate on conserving resources to keep the library afloat instead of their agenda.
I did a blog about the increase to the Library Budget for 2010 in this blog from October 2009.
Adopted 2010 budget.
The Library Budget increased for 2010 by $158,317.
The breakdown of the increases are as follows:
Things that increased:
Salaries - increased by $8,216
Equipment - increased by $3,500
Materials - increased by $65,000
Principal on debt - increased by $423
Employee Fringe Benefits - increased by $93,711
Things that decreased:
Services and supplies (the library requested this decrease)- decreased by $12,105
Interest on debt - decreased by $428
Keep in mind that the 2010 budget was done by MEH and the previous administration.
Here's the Adopted Budget 2011.
The Library Budget decreased by $89,965 for 2011.
Things that increased:
Services and Supplies - increased by $5,773
Employee Fringe Benefits - increased by $10,550
Things that decreased:
Salaries - decreased by $63,674
Equipment - decreased by $3,500
Materials - decreased by $20,000
Principal on Debt - decreased by $18,659
Interest on Debt - decreased by $455
2010's budget says that there was an increase in the materials section of $65,000.....does anyone see 65k worth of new materials at the libraries?
With that big increase to Salaries and Fringe benefits.....were the libraries able to increase their hours?
Nope.
But - for $24,000 I could cut a hole in the wall, install an energy efficient window AND a nice comfy couch.
Just sayin'........
I had bitched a couple of years ago that the Library needs more money to fix their buildings.....and then when MEH gave it to them....most of it went for Salaries and Fringe Benefits....not staying open longer or fixing up the ceiling etc.
As for the cuts to 2011's budget. Oh well! We all have to sacrifice. Cuomo says we have to "do more with less". I've been doing that for years...but....
There are only so many ways a town can control costs without raising taxes every year. Cutting budgets is one of them.
Everyone can point fingers at other things that cost the town money .....what are they going to cut? Police? People will freak. Sidewalk plowing? Oh no....can't do that or our most vulnerable little citizens will die from unplowed sidewalks..... but when people like Geraldine Sullivan have to take a lunch monitor job just to be able to stay in her house and pay her property taxes - then the town has to make cuts somewhere, and the Library is where they could make some cuts. Don't like it? Raise more money for your library - don't expect to raise the taxes of people like Geraldine to pay for your salaries and fringe benefits.
Good luck in getting to be your own taxing district.
I also liked the story in either Sat or Sun on the library where they said over 400,000 people have library cards in the county. I wonder how often the cards are used and by how many. I cant speak for other towns but in our town, every kindergarted class goes to the library as a field trip and gets a library card. They may or may not ever use it again, I dont know but they have em.
I agree with Jaxx I cant imagine our town agreeing to another taxing district, I couldnt be more surprised at Golan on this. Every other conversation is how high taxed we are!!
And yes the MEH admin did give them more money BUT like she said it is up to the library board and director to decide how its used.
ANd I also liked how Buford said they were singled out. WHat????!!!! Every dept for the last 3 years has had to make cuts, suck it up there is a recession out there!
There are some positives with them being their own legislative/taxing district.
You'd get to vote on their budgets.
You'd get to elect the board instead of politicians appointing their friends.
That's about all I can think of.
I just wonder how their budget would work if they became their own legislative district?
Somebody mentioned it on the library article in the D&C - would it be like the school districts? You know, you vote down the SD budget and they go to an "austerity" or contingency budget.....which is only slightly less than what was originally proposed. Don't know if that's how it would work...but....not many people would go for that in my opinion.
I think most people love the libraries and would love for them to have the money to improve their buildings or in the future build a whole new one.
I have stated before that I'm for consolidation and a new building (not because it will save the town money....it won't....it'll cost more because they will increase services and hire more people) and I think a "town campus" approach to the library and senior/community center is the way to go. That's just my opinion - it's up to the voters to decide on that.
There just needs to be a PLAN (ahem, MASTER PLAN) in place to move ahead.
Get busy with plans and raising funds through donations or grants etc. - and before you know it there will be a new building for the libraries on town campus which would free up the properties they are on now for some business that will hopefully pay property taxes, therefore generating revenue for the town (unless the town decides to punish themselves and sell to a non profit. lol)
Just my opinion.
This latest anti-library post is just full of nonsense. $150,000 doesn't come close to scratching the surface of what the library buildings need. Ten times that amount might begin to reverse the years of financial neglect by the town board. How much did MEH and the previous administration cut before she finally woke up and gave back $150,000? If you only look back a year or two you aren't giving your readers an accurate view and this is what you want, right? The town board has been balancing the budget on the back of the library for years. The town budget has grown rapidly over the years and the library budget has been stagnant. By the way tell us about your magical powers where can walk in and look at the shelves and tell whether $65 thou was spent on new books or not. Amazing! And by the way go look at what the other towns spend on libraries and what their residents get and what percentage of their town budget goes to the library. You naysayers always resort to the "I don't care what other towns have" but you should. We are competing with them to attract businesses and new residents and we are losing because of quality of life issues such as this. Wake up. You penny pinchers are killing us faster than anything else. I don't want higher taxes. I want more of what is collected now to go to the library! And maybe you could let Ms. Sullivan decide for herself which services are important to her.
Oh please.
Accurate picture? The Town has been balancing the budget on the backs of the Libraries for years? ONLY the Libraries? Really? lol
So, I don't include every budget from past years? What about in 1970something when they moved that house to enable the library to expand? Should I include that? What about every increase in past budgets? You going to tell me about those? Didn't think so.
As for "competing with other towns".....Are you talking about Penfield/Webster etc.? You know, Towns that are developing and growing (unlike Irondequoit which is like 99% developed and not growing) and have a higher housing stock (therefore, higher property taxes to afford such things as luxurious libraries), and a higher median income (compare through the census numbers), and a lower population of Seniors on limited incomes (check out Irondequoit's numbers....the highest!).
I think it's pretty funny that you think a new library will be the decision maker on whether a young family decides to move to Irondequoit or not.
Honestly. It's really funny. Like a clown funny.
As for Geraldine - SHE went public with her plea about property taxes. She wasn't specific about what she was willing to fund with her taxes or not - she just said that she had to take a lunch monitor job to be able to stay in her house and pay her property taxes. Since SHE went public with her plea - I can comment on it any way I choose.
While you're thinking up your next nasty response - read this, it may answer some of the questions on why my penny pinching ass bothers you so much.
You really should be considerate of other people and not yourselves all the time. It's not all about you ya know. Just because you don't care about the financial health of the town and it's residents doesn't mean I have to share that view.
March 2nd @ 7 pm. Irondequoit Town Hall. The truth.
Whether anyone means to or not, everyone b*tching about these library issues sounds like they're against the library itself and the concept of a library. Why spread rumors and hearsay...much of what is bouncing around out there is opinion. There really is no "political agenda" to this -- the library has a lower operating & materials budget than they did in 1993. Yet people would like them to buy books, have more computers, have more services, etc. So, the honest issue is that the library, the staff, the advocates & community, just want to be able to operate. And it is true that the Town government has, in years past, slashed the library budget only, while increasing the other departments. Why are they singled out? I encourage everyone to go look at the budgets; I'm sure they're at the Town Hall, but...they are also at the libraries.
I know that there are many feelings on the "building issue" -- but consolidation or not, most likely not, the buildings should be able to house items without being cramped, which is what these buildings are. It seems like for every item they buy, other things in the collection must be sacrificed to make room. That's wasteful, you know? It would just be nice to have an addition or an annex for some space. They should also be safe; during the winter or spring of 2009, I remember the children's room at Evans needed to be closed for several days because melting ice caused flooding and part of the ceiling caved in. What is the problem with bringing the building up to a better standard of safety and adding a bit more space? Even at just one or the other.
The heated arguments and debates prolong the problems and prevent any path from being chosen. So in the meantime, they're spending money on consultants to try to restore (yes, at least restore to what it once was) funding, instead of just being allowed to do something and saving money by not having to fight an uphill battle. All the people fighting against each other, with no one willing to compromise, isn't productive. By continuing to spew rumors and create division amongst residents, it hurts our libraries because none of their problems get solved and only fester more. If people argued based on fact, that is acceptable, but often it is not the case. While some people may not believe it, there are tax payers of Irondequoit who are pro-library. And if our taxes are going to be raised regardless, why shouldn't they get a fair chunk of the funds? Food for thought. Please go to the meeting above; I hear the board & consultant will have a presentation re: the marketing etc. Peace ~ cg
"It seems like for every item they buy, other things in the collection must be sacrificed to make room. "
For every item I buy, other things in my collection must be sacrificed to make room.
I don't keep the old couch when I buy a new one. I donate it to VOA or SA.
The town is in a precarious fiscal condition right now. As a matter of fact (not hearsay or rumors), all of NYS is.
We can all point fingers at where budget cuts can be made - but when EVERY department in town has had to make cuts for this budget - I don't feel much sympathy for the libraries right now - especially when the majority of the increase in last years budget went for salaries and fringe benefits.
The roof could have been fixed with that money.
Read the audit - it should explain why we all have to make sacrifices right now.
I understand what you're saying...but what I am saying is that they buy a book for $30 one year, then the next year they have to delete it to make room for another? The point of a library is to be a collection and not to delete "old" things. That's all I meant.
Also, are you saying that they should just fire all the employees or that they don't deserve to be paid? How would it feel to you if someone said you didn't deserve your job or to make a living? That's not very nice. Most of them are probably Irondequoit taxpayers too.
Strategy in full force! Link to strategy.
Use Social Media to get your ideas out there - Check.
Get media involved and make nice with them to get them in your corner - Check.
Label the people who don't share your views as "haters of libraries" or "negative and against progress" or "penny pinchers" - Check.
I'm waiting for the "Anti-family" label to be bestowed upon me. I'm sure that's coming next!
:)
"Also, are you saying that they should just fire all the employees or that they don't deserve to be paid?"
Nope. Didn't say that anywhere. But thanks for trying to spin it that way. ;)
I think a 1950 harlequin romance novel could be taken off the shelf to make room for something newer. Or, maybe the 1918 editions of Popular Mechanics can be retired for new editions. If a patron wanted to borrow an old edition of something - they could have it sent to the library for later pickup or the library can recommend that the patron go to the downtown library for older books/magazines or whatever.
Somebody (pro-library) on the D&C article said that the libraries should not be "warehouses".
Greece had a new, antiseptic library built a few years ago. It has a fish tank. A coffee/snack bar area. I went there once. Nice, but not my thing.
I would patronize the Charlotte branch, or Winton Rd. Why? My choice. I like the Charlotte branch. It's old. It has history and character.
I never once went to the library to "hang out" and enjoy a cup of coffee while I was reading books. We were taught in school not to do that because a spill from the drinks could ruin a book. Your dirty fingers from your sticky buns could ruin the pages!
I went to the library to pick out books. Not to have social hour with everyone in town.
That's just me - other people feel differently, and that's fine.
Right now, the town is facing significant challenges financially - the libraries are just going to have to weather the storm like everyone else until the financial picture looks better.
In the meantime, they should be working on plans and getting grant funding.
I hear there's some software available for learning how to secure grants.......but it's more important to get the software for Library Campaigns, apparently.
January 10th entry.
Plan and raise those funds!
Hey -
That "marketing walk" you guys are doing between the two branches....is there any fund raising involved or is it just a publicity stunt?
Just wonderin'.....
"It's a tough one to argue against" was the statement. As was the case for about 4 years people chose to interpret what they want to in words. No where does that statement say I would support a new taxing district. A right to vote on a budget is a tough right to argue against. It is equally difficult to make a case that voting for board members is a bad thing to do.
These interpretations reflect the thought process that brought citizens the 5 foot lot line lie and the Medley deal. Just to name a few.
Just read another annon comment:
"I couldnt be more surprised at Golan on this. Every other conversation is how high taxed we are!!"
Why would you be surprised I support residents right to vote on a budget and to elect board members?
That is an incredibly consistant statement. In fact it is exactly one of the headlines in a library website I published:
People Deserve a Choice When a Choice Exists.
Everyone knows the past town board members did not support rights to vote (kings park lease they were forced kicking and screaming) nor did they ever offer a choice.
I happen to have known very well residents who started the Library System in 1947. They were avid readers, promoted the town, and did not waste money. They would find ways to raise funds, not squander tax dollars.
Look at the ridiculous costs of kings park.
Look at the ridiculous costs of the new fairport proposal ( $400+/sf for an old strip mall building).
The new Gates library is about $130/sf. How did they do that with a brand new brick building.
Involve the private sector and not just out-of-state landlords if you want to find ways to save millions.
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