Goshen Public Library & Historical Society | 203 Main St Goshen, NY 10924 | Phone: 845.294.6606 | Fax: 845.294.7158 | RCLS Member
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Letter from a Board member
By plnkh | April 6, 2007
There have been a number of inaccurate statements made in the paper regarding The Goshen Public Library and Historical Society. First and foremost is the inaccurate statement that the voters of the school district voted down a proposal to build a library back in 2003.
The vote in 2003 was a proposition to impose a one time tax levy of $450,000 to create a fund to be utilized in the future to purchase an as of yet unspecified piece of land. This proposition was, in my opinion, justifiably defeated as it would have placed a very heavy one time burden on the tax payers, for a benefit that would not be enjoyed by those taxpayers, but rather by tax payers in an indefinable period in the future. Any capital expense should be financed by a bond referendum which would amortize those costs over a long period of time, so that the cost would be borne by those taxpayers that would benefit from the expense. In other words the cost for a new library should be borne by those who would be utilizing the new building. But more important is that the vote was not a referendum to build a library, nor was it a vote to purchase land. It was a vote to raise $450,000 dollars.
While some of those voters who voted no to that referendum may have been opposed to any new building, a number who voted no did so because of the inequitable structure of the proposed financing, not because they were opposed to a new library. This was made known to the board by a number of voters. In fact the vast majority of the comments made to the Board after this vote expressed this opinion.
It was this feed back that motivated the Board to come up with a more creative and equitable method of financing the present purchase of land. The Board thought the best way to finance the purchase would be to acquire the land with a minimum financial impact on the tax payers, by leveraging the use of existing assets of the Library. By mortgaging our existing property we could facilitate the purchase with an interest only loan that would have an annual expense of only $50,000 per year to the tax payers. This item was clearly identified by a separate line item entitled “New Building Expense” that was in the budget voted on by the voters in the last budget vote. This budget is posted on the Library’s web site for all voters to see.
The actions that were taken by the board were clearly discussed at our meetings that are open to the public. We were specifically asked why we did this by the Board of Education at joint meetings and we clearly explained our intentions and reasons. We also clearly stated that all of our actions were examined by our legal council to ensure that every thing we did was legal under the laws governing School district libraries.
I find it disconcerting that certain individuals present at those meetings continue to make misrepresentations of these actions in print.
There is another issue that needs to be clarified and that is the Library’s practice of obtaining Tax Anticipation Notes, or TANS, to facilitate our financing. The library’s budget runs from July 1 to June 30. However we do not receive the majority of our tax revenue until October. In order to provide for the short term cash short fall in August and September we usually borrow those funds. On average this financing costs the tax payers less than $1,000 per year. Our alternative would be to increase the taxes in one year by about $150,000 so that we would have enough cash on hand to meet this structural short fall. As a Board we feel that this would be an unnecessary burden on the tax payers. However some members of the community, who should have some rudimentary knowledge of public finance, have purposely misled the public to represent the obtaining of the TANS as overspending our budget. I would like to clearly state that the library has not overspent its budget in any year that I have been on the Board, years in which we have obtained TANS.
The use of TANS is not only acceptable governmental accounting practices it is a market that exceeds billions of dollars. The reason that the Library obtains the tans from the School District is that under New York State Law, School District Libraries must obtain TAN’s through the School district.
Finally I would like to address the misrepresentation in the press of the Library Board personnel. I have been on the Board for the past 3 years. My initial motivation for obtaining the position was to make sure not one penny of my tax dollars was wasted by a group of bibliophilic spendthrifts. However what I have found in my time on the Board is a group of citizens whose concern for the community is tremendous. They work countless hours attending workshops throughout the state, holding community outreach sessions and investigating other libraries for best practices. The work of the Board members is much greater than that of other municipal boards in that the library staff, aside from those providing service to the public, is miniscule. Most research and staff work is done by the board members since the business and administration staff consists of two people. This is done by these individuals for no compensation other than the satisfaction of serving their community. Individuals like Patty Garnett, Laura Engle, Mark Garguilo, Janet Markiewicz and Jasper Fields have worked for years for this community and deserve more respect than certain individuals have deemed to bestow.
I want to make clear that I do not consider myself in the same category as these individuals. I admit that my contribution is mostly as the fly in the ointment. However I at least have the decency to show up at the meetings and investigate the facts before I vent my opinions.
In conclusion, I would hope the people of the Goshen School District would make the effort to inform themselves of the facts concerning the Library’s actions rather then depend on the mis-information of a few individuals, whose tactics speak volumes of their character. Further more, I implore all voters to get out and support Laura Engle in the vote for Trustee.. Laura is a smart, prudent and passionate individual who, in my opinion, is the most valuable member of the Board of Trustees. She has more than earned your vote through years of hard work and I hope the community will show their thanks by returning her to office.
Sincerely
Eugene B. Degan Jr.
Trustee of the Goshen Public Library and Historical Society
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