On Monday, January 25, the Town Council is going to make a decision on whether to move forward with the manager’s recommendation to begin the 14 million dollar expansion of the Chapel Hill Public Library. The agenda item basically just popped up, as the manager and staff now feel that construction costs are now stable and the municipal bond market is in better shape. The agenda item also mentions the fact that the expanded Library’s operational costs “are significant and will present real challenges as the Town’s budgets for upcoming years are developed.” (i.e. tax increase of 1.31 cents).
A little history here: 40% of the users of the library do not live in Chapel Hill or pay Chapel Hill taxes and are not responsible for the 14 million dollar capital outlay or most of the operational costs of running the library. The Town and its taxpaying residents have been subsidizing nonresidents to use the library since its inception. Orange County back in 1995 was paying the Town 20% of its operational costs for the Library. Since that time however, operational costs have significantly increased as the population and use has increased, but the county has not changed its annual payment of $250,000. In fact the County is paying only 11% now. The county has repeatedly refused to increase its allotment due to its own budget issues, however most recently a brand new multimillion dollar Orange County library has opened in Hillsborough.
Back in April of 2009 I submitted a detailed petition to the staff and council to please address this issue of funding inequity and presented options for the staff to consider such as having the county get back up to 20% and even beyond that to account for the 40% of out of town users, or have Carrboro and/or other municipalities contribute to the library from their general funds based on their use (similar to Chapel Hill transit where different entities pay based on ridership/use), or charge out of town users a fee. However my petition gathered dust, and still does, and nothing has happened. The Council did have a library discussion that was quite heated at our Fall Assembly of Governments meeting where the County flatly refused to contribute any part of the capital costs of the new library, and did not commit to increasing anything beyond its historical $250K. To date, there is talk out there of some increase, but no commitment, no guarantee, nothing in writing. Uncertainty has existed for the last fifteen years, and uncertainty is bound to exist for the next fifteen, unless something changes.
I will again reiterate what our manager tells us: “The increase in Library operating costs are estimated at $774,799, or a tax rate equivalent of 1.31 cents at current valuations. These increased ongoing costs are significant and will present real challenges as the Town’s budgets for upcoming years are developed.”
My April 2009 petition is lost, or is dusty, or was basically ignored, but it asked questions and asked the staff to come up with a financial cost sharing plan, or a discussion of plans with others, by a certain date. Before we move forward, shouldn’t we have this discussion? We are being asked to move forward WITHOUT the discussion and without the knowledge and facts of what our operational cost picture might look like if we got some help from outside entities. We SHOULD get help from outside entities. Is the Town supposed to continue to provide the “free lunch” to citizens in Carrboro and surrounding towns as it faces a $14 million dollar expansion and tax increases for operational costs, which are BORN SOLELY BY THE CITIZENS of Chapel Hill? Let’s also not forget that the citizens of Chapel Hill are also Orange county residents.
Until there is a plan in place to address the funding inequities as the citizens of Chapel Hill continue to bear all of this financial responsibility, I am not ready to move forward. I WANT the library to expand. But I want others to help pay for our operational costs based on use. It’s only fair.
