Voters to decide library budget in referendum; Should one mill of taxes be dedicated to the library system?

Written by Brad Durrell
Friday, 30 October 2009 09:18

Bridgeport voters will have a rare opportunity on Nov. 3 to decide the allocation of their tax dollars.

That’s when they will vote in a referendum to decide whether to set aside one mill of taxes — or what is about $6.6 million in this year’s budget— to the Bridgeport Public Library.

The library now has a $4.8 million budget, which represents about 0.69 of a mill. A mill is the amount homeowners must pay in taxes for every $1,000 worth of assessed property.

Library board President James O’Donnell, who is also heading up a political action committee created to urge support for the library referendum question, said it’s time to provide the library with a reliable source of revenue rather than regularly reducing its budget as a way to deal with overall municipal budget woes.

“To continually cut the library is not the way to improve the city,” said O’Donnell, adding that other parts of city government have grown much bigger in the past few decades while the library has not.

The percentage of the city budget spent on the library system has declined by almost half from 1985, O’Donnell said. Just in the past two years, the library budget has been cut by 10%, he said.

O’Donnell said one survey found that close to 80% of city residents did not have Internet access at home. Many of these people, he said, depend on the library for e-mail and Web use.

The referendum question on the ballot will read, “Shall a one (1) mill tax be levied to establish and maintain a free public library and reading room?”

An unusual state law allowed the referendum to be placed on the ballot, and it took a legal fight to reach that conclusion. Some city officials had questioned whether the referendum question was legal.

City Council member Robert P. Curwen Sr. said while he understands the library’s desire for more funding, a positive outcome on the referendum would lead to a tax increase.

“I can’t support it because it does raise taxes,” said Curwen, longtime budget committee chairman. “I don’t understand how we’re supposed to get the money otherwise. I also don’t know how they will spend it, and how we’ll control how they spend it. It could be like an out-of-control freight train.”

Curwen said council members, who are running for election this year, should discuss “the financial implications” of the referendum with their constituents.

City Council President Thomas C. McCarthy also plans to vote against the referendum. “It’s an unelected board, and I don’t think it’s right for an unelected board to be able to tax the residents of Bridgeport,” McCarthy said.

Library board members are appointed by the library board itself in a unique system designed to keep the board out of politics.

O’Donnell said it’s up to City Council members to decide how to allocate the rest of the city budget, and giving more money to the library doesn’t have to translate into higher taxes. “They set the priorities,” he said of the council.

O’Donnell is optimistic voters will show their support for the library system by voting yes on the referendum question.

“Although people are concerned with the cost of their taxes, they want something to show for those taxes, and this involves an important service that affects people’s quality of life,” O’Donnell said.

“This gives people an opportunity to tell people at City Hall that the library’s needs to be properly funded,” he said. “They will know they’re getting something of specific value for their tax dollars.”

O’Donnell and other library advocates have been meeting with community groups in recent months to urge support for the referendum. He said the feedback has been positive.

Just last weekend he was walking door-to-door to distribute pro-library election material. He said one couple sitting on their porch enthusiastically told him, “If it’s for the library then yes, we support it.”

Supporters also have been making campaign phone calls and had a fund-raiser this week at Two Boots restaurant, partly to thank their campaign volunteers and to build enthusiasm for Election Day.

Mayor Bill Finch agrees with Curwen that taxes will go up if the referendum passes Nov. 3. “People should know they are voting to increase their taxes and voting to spend it on the library,” he said.

No matter what the outcome, Finch said, he will not change his priorities on how to spend money in the budget, with public safety and the school system getting priority in a city with very limited means.

Still, the mayor said he will support the referendum as an individual because he is a regular library user, and he’d be a hypocrite to do otherwise. He said he regularly borrows books and other materials for himself and his two young children.

As a mayor earning a respectable salary, he said, he can afford to pay the higher taxes. “I’m not sure if that’s true for most voters,” he said.

Finch said libraries do help to turn around lives, lifting people out of poverty, and increasing the library budget is “a laudable goal.” But, he stressed, he just doesn’t think it’s possible during such difficult economic times.

Finch also is concerned about the precedent that could be set by allowing a city department to essentially set its own budget, separate from the City Council. “This can be done due to state law, but the danger is it could lead to a smorgasbord of taxes like this,” he said.

City Librarian Scott Hughes has said the library system must be better funded to remain a viable public resources and to positively influence people’s lives.

Hughes said mandating a specific amount for the library system may the only way to provide adequate funding in communities with small tax bases, such as poor urban communities like Bridgeport “It’s the only sustainable model,” he said.

Library supporters also hope to build permanent library branches in the East End and East Side, which now are served by rented storefront facilities. The library has full-service facilities in Black Rock, the North End and downtown. Supporters also want to increase library hours and better fund successful programs.