Here are some excerpts:
Bushkill isn't going to pay, officials said Tuesday.
'I want to know how many residents use the library,'' said Upper Nazareth Supervisor James Fahr.
If the library has to cut services to stay within its budget, then that's what it should do, said Fahr.My family visits the library regularly. A library is an enabler for all people regardless of economic standing. It provides not only books for leisurely reading, but internet service, research, reading programs for children, and many other services. In short a library is invaluable and ought to be treasured.
Further, a library is not about how many residents use the facility, it is about having the opportunity of every resident to be able to use it.
Utilizing a per person fee is akin to switching from a property tax to an income tax - it's more fair. Property does not relate to income, so why base a tax on it? The funding formula that was devised is fair. If negotiation is needed to determine the rate, I have no problem with that.
This brings up a larger issue, one the Nazareth 2030 Plan attempts to help resolve, and that is the greater community of Nazareth interaction. While Upper Nazareth may be upset with having to pay more for the library, what about the impact Upper Nazareth's unbridled residential development is having on school tax increases to residents in the Borough? What about the increase in traffic in the Borough and the corresponding need to increase road maintenance? What about the increase in use of Borough fields and parks by Upper Nazareth residents because they have such a severe shortage of them? All of these decisions by Upper Nazareth officials, cost Nazareth Borough residents, and it appears that these supervisors don't feel a compulsion to give back to the greater community, but only to get and take.
I do think it is important for these council people and supervisors to keep in mind that the library is only one community service of many and that funding it is for the good of all residents. If they don't like the rate, have an open meeting and discuss it together or devise a rate limit from year to year (ie can't exceed 5% from previous or can only go up if state funding is lowered, etc).
What do you think? Are the townships being reasonable in their challenge to the library funding? Is the formula fair? In this day and age is a library of value? Was I too hard on Upper Nazareth (maybe, but I wanted to make the point;-)?
2 comments:
I think that we have to look at this from a systematic standpoint of how local government is supposed to work. The people of a given municipality elect officals to represent their interests, concerns etc. In local municipalities these are generally expressed through zoning and budget decisions. The Library drafts a budget that says "we will do 'X' and this is how much it should cost." The library serves peopel in different municipalities who may or may not have the same interests and concerns when it comes to the library. Thus the individual municipalities can determine if their constituents want full services or not and fund accordingly. Now, as with any issue, the people within the municipality will not always agree. In America, people have the right to go to council meeting to express their views initially and if they feel they have not been serviced correctly they go to the polls and elct people who will. The elected officials in Bushkill have decided (and the officials in Upper Nazareth are deciding) that their constituents, or at least a majority of their voting constituents do not want full services in the library. If that is their belief, they should not fund it fully. If that belief is mistaken it is up to the residents to inform council of such, either at meetings or at the polls. Now if the residents of Nazareth and Lower Nazareth, through their elected officials, as expressed by their budget want that full service and fully fund the library, that is their decision. This is perfectly fine and how local governments are supposed to wrok in this country. My only hope is that the Library finds a way to ensure that the residents of Nazareth and Lower Nazareth receive their full service and that the residents of Bushkill and Upper Nazareth receive only the level of service that they pay for. I am sure this will lead to some people in Bushkill and maybe Upper Nazareth not receiving the level of service they want. However, unless there are enough people who are willing to go to meetings and if necessary the pollswho want full service from the Library, why should the Township pay for it. My tax dollars go to things I do not want all the time. My remedy is to write my representatives and to try to elect people who will spend the money the way I want them to. So to for any residents of any of the municipalities if they want more funding to go to the Library.
Thanks for the comment and insight.
I agree completely with representing the will of the people and obviously the purpose of this site is to raise awareness of these very local issues so people are aware of them as early as possible and able to make their wishes known to their government representatives.
Of course it is a representation of the people and not a direct democracy. They have the ability to do as they wish and it is then up to the people to determine how well they have been represented and that point is often lost (as it was in the case of the new government center discussions).
I would be interested to hear more on your thoughts regarding partial participation based on partial funding. I've always considered this issue as an all or nothing proposition.
Best wishes and thanks for taking a sip (or in this case a swallow;-) of newsovercoffee!
Ross
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