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Tuesday school budget proposition decides if Ogdensburg library gets additional $225,000 in funding

Posted 5/15/21

BY JIMMY LAWTON North Country This Week OGDENSBURG – It’s a big deal. A proposition attached to the school budget vote set for May 18 will determine whether or not the Ogdensburg Public Library …

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Tuesday school budget proposition decides if Ogdensburg library gets additional $225,000 in funding

Posted

BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG – It’s a big deal.

A proposition attached to the school budget vote set for May 18 will determine whether or not the Ogdensburg Public Library receives $225,000 in additional funding.

The decision falls squarely on voters within the Ogdensburg School District and their decision will shape the future of the city library.

The funding is intended to replace money that once came from the city budget, but will end completely in 2022.

Ogdensburg Mayor Jeffrey M. Skelly has devoted his first term in office to reducing costs at the city and has been laser focused on finances and clearing a path to development of the city’s waterfront and businesses. While he says the library is important, he does not approve of how it’s been run and wants to see new leadership. He sees the May 18 vote as a referendum on the library’s leadership and path for the future.

He’s voting “no” on the measure and urging others to do the same.

For Library Director Penny Kerfien and many letter writers to North Country This Week, the vote is about ensuring the future of a library that many Ogdensburg residents rely on.

In January the library reduced staffing to just eight employees, six of which are part-time.

She says the lack of funding in recent years caused the library to lose its designation as a central library system. Kerfien said the designation allowed two part-time jobs to be funded through the state and provided $40,000 toward materials. However, to get the designation, the library needed to meet criteria from the state that included local funding and operating hours that weren’t possible due to cuts. In recent years the public library was able to successfully collect some revenues through taxes on a referendum attached to the Ogdensburg City School District budget. Currently taxpayers in the school district allow the library to collect $125,000 annually, but the upcoming referendum would raise that to $350,000.

 Kerfien said the library has struggled in recent years and the pandemic created further problems, but despite the challenges the library has been able to continue to provide services to the public. The library is still part of the North Country Library System, which allows 65 libraries to share materials and allows patrons flexibility on where they can pick up or drop off their media.

She said patronage actually remained high despite the limitations imposed by the pandemic. She said the high cost of internet services and computers drives some people to take advantage of the library’s equipment and for many the library is the only place they can get “online.”

“We have people that come in all the time that fill out job applications, research jobs. Some people come in for legal paperwork they need to do or to work on projects,” she said. She says libraries are essential to the daily life of many residents and is hopeful voters will show support on May 18.

Of course the services provided by the library do come with a cost and for some that’s undoubtedly a burden.

For those with an assessment of $65,000 a “yes” vote would cost about $55 per year, but the Friends of the Ogdensburg Public Library argue that it’s a small price to pay for what they provide.

“The value that the Ogdensburg Public Library contributed to the community for 2020 was $829,018.10. This figure is calculated by how many people use the library – what they utilized – and the value of the services provided to the community. Wouldn’t you agree that your investment of only .16 cents per day is a small price to pay to continue to support a free library in the Ogdensburg community?” a letter from the organization asked.

They say at least 40 different groups or organizations make use of the library space and utilize 40 different services that are offered. In 2019, the last non-COVID year, the library presented 233 programs. They say 50,779 items and 3,428 ebooks were checked out.

There were 45,384 visitors to the library and 8,033 library cardholders. There were 6,496 computer sessions and 18,957 wireless users. The library brought in $81,000 in grants for capital projects in 2019.

But for the Mayor the cost is too high to justify the services currently offered. He says the library should be open more hours, make better use of its facilities and modernize its technology offerings. He even wants to see a coffee shop added to the library.

He says he’s not against the library, despite what people are saying about him. He says wants a better library.

“I am not against libraries. That’s ridiculous. I want my children and grandchildren to be well-read and to have access to information. But the library board has not kept up with the times. They seem incapable of doing something as simple as balancing their own books. They are not an employment agency. They are a conduit of learning. Now they ask the public to “save our library.” They should have saved themselves. They’ve known for years that the city was shifting the way it financed the library. The library board simply ignored the writing on the wall,” he said. “So again, I will be voting ‘no’ on the library proposition. I love books and consider myself well-read as only a ‘plumber’ can be. But I know that voting ‘no’ sends a message. And it is the right message.”

Ogdensburg School District voters interested in helping make the decision can do so by going to the Ogdensburg Golden Dome between noon and 8 p.m. May 18. The library proposition is a separate vote from the school budget.

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