Editorial “Library at a crossroads” states “[Administrator Susan] Hauer’s efforts have been largely successful. During her tenure, circulation increased by 40 percent, local funding rose by 60 percent, a business library was established, four new libraries were opened under the library system umbrella and strategic planning was implemented….A non-binding referendum to tax county residents an average of $25 per person per year was narrowly defeated in the 2005 primary election.”
WATCHDOG: The Intell editor’s ignorance concerning the subject is manifested from the title. It should be “Library System at a crossroad”. The Library System is basically a cooperative effort by a number of independent libraries to share certain tasks which grew into a bloated bureaucracy.
We do not wish to detract from Hauer’s sincere efforts and few accomplishments, but for the record:
1) Local funding was increased by 60 percent largely because of the $300,000 matching grant from the County Commissioners in 2006;
2) In subsequent years the System kept half of the intended matching grant for itself;
3) The Business Center was created by the Lancaster Public Library on Duke Street, not the System;
4) Three of the four “new libraries” were branches of existing libraries; the fourth was heavily supported by Manheim Township. MT increased its library funding from $100,000 to $269,000 after the Manheim Township Public Library became independent and constructed new facilities in 2009/ 10;
5) It was a colossal bungle to hold a library funding referendum during an off year devoted solely to local elections. It should have been done in 2006, a Congressional election year an, if necessary, tried again in 2008 when it almost certainly would have carried.
There was never a referendum held to approve taxpayer funding for the downtown Lancaster hotel and convention center, which receives well over $5 million a year in Lancaster County tax dollars toward debt service and operational losses. With an established precedent like this one, why is a referendum needed to fund Lancaster County libraries?
EDITOR’S NOTE: The closest thing to a referundum concerning taxpayer funding for the downtown convention center was a Fox 43 sponsored poll of 400 county residents conducted by a national polling firm which indicated 78% of those with an opinion opposed County guarantee of Convention Center debt.