An article in the Times Record on Tuesday, March 24, covers the Warrant for the May 13 Woolwich Town Meeting — in particular, the proposal to move the Patten Free Library’s annual funding request from a decision at Town Meeting to a later election ballot. Woolwich resident Don Adams is quoted as saying that this move is desirable because “[a] lot of people work second shift — they don’t want to come out because Town Meeting is at six, and they don’t want to come down here and get shouted down.” At a recent Woolwich Selectboard meeting, Mr. Adams also said that those who oppose PFL funding are shouted down at Town Meeting.

In all my years attending Woolwich Town Meeting, I have never once heard anyone opposing PFL funding shouted down; this claim is simply untrue. It is true that whenever Town Meeting is scheduled — whether it be on a weeknight or on a Saturday — there will be some residents who cannot make it to the meeting. I don’t know how moving just one article out of the Warrant makes a difference. This is especially true since the proposal to move any funding article out of the Warrant would have to be made and voted on at Town Meeting on an annual basis — which means that no matter what, the question of library funding boils down to an annual vote at Town Meeting.

Once a year for almost 400 years, townspeople across New England have come together at Town Meeting to talk about the town’s finances and to reach agreement about the next year’s total budget and how the money will be spent. Town Meeting is participatory democracy. We share information and opinions and then make decisions as a community. I remember at last year’s Town Meeting, there was a new article about funding for cemetery maintenance, which had to be added because of a change to Maine law. Members of the Selectboard and residents made helpful and informative comments that allowed us to reach an informed decision based on this open dialog — and that’s how it should be.

On May 13, we’ll be at the Woolwich Town Meeting to vote on the town’s budget, so why would we pluck one item out of the laundry list and decide it later? It’s much more sensible to share information and ideas, decide the whole budget and wrap things up at Town Meeting, as has been done for years.

As voters in Woolwich (as well as Arrowsic, Georgetown and West Bath) get ready to vote on their budgets, I hope they realize that while the Patten Free Library relies on municipal contributions to fund its services, its staff and many volunteers work hard to keep costs to the towns down. As a member of the library’s Board, I know that every effort is made to avoid asking for increased funding. This is the first increase requested in three years.

Costs to the towns are kept down by controlling expenses, but also by other sources of funding. The library’s endowment is one source, and fundraising is a 24/7 pursuit. This allows PFL to keep municipal contributions to one-third of total annual funding. As the Time Record article describes, the towns that belong to PFL do so by paying the same amount per capita. For the upcoming year, that will come to $16.50 per resident (a total of $50,688 for Woolwich), if the funding request is approved. Compared to most public libraries in Maine, this is low.

Wiscasset, for example, increased its library’s funding from $60,000 to almost $68,950 last year, and now has its residents paying $18.48 per capita. (From the Lincoln County News; per capita amount based on the 2010 census). Brunswick’s Curtis Memorial Library which, like PFL, also has an endowment and active annual fundraising, assesses townspeople somewhere north of $60 per capita (based on numbers from 2012/13 on the library’s website). Topsham is proposing a 42% increase in its library budget and, if the $597,000 request is approved, that will amount to $68.52 per capita, compared to last year’s $48.24 per capita. (Topsham’s per capita data taken from a public meeting handout.)

In his comments to the Times Record, Mr. Adams says he favors Woolwich stopping its municipal contribution to PFL and, instead, reimbursing residents who want to buy a library card. However, voters should realize that if PFL’s budget is cut by over $50,000, this will naturally have a negative effect on library services. The number of days open could be reduced and/or other services might have to be cut. Card prices also might have to be increased from the current $50. Users could expect to pay more for less. A reimbursement plan could turn out to be a bad deal for the town. In the last two years, 1,101 Woolwich residents used their PFL library cards. If they all bought a library card at today’s price of $50 and asked the town for reimbursement, that would come to $55,050, which is over $4,000 more than the funding request.

One of the reasons I have been a volunteer for PFL for the last 10 years is the variety of benefits it provides to all members of the community. On any given day at PFL, you can see people using the WiFi network, computers and printers to do research, scanning and faxing; kids enjoying story time or reading to a visiting dog; teens working on arts and crafts and reading/writing projects, or getting a Red Cross babysitting certificate; families checking out movie DVDs or the last season of Game of Thrones; grandparents borrowing an American Girl doll as a surprise for their granddaughter; teens and parents attending workshops to get help with college applications and financial aid; adults getting one-to-one help with resumés, job searches and how to use technology; people of all ages enjoying talks like the Town History series, musical performances and movie showings, or just sitting in a comfortable chair in the reading room reading a newspaper or magazine and watching the river flow by.

What strikes me so often when I’m at the library is that it’s a happy place, a social place and a productive place, with something for everyone. I hope anybody who wants to make an informed decision about library funding will visit PFL and see for themselves what an asset this is for our community. And then consider whether it’s worth paying the price of a large pepperoni pizza this year to have that asset be available to all town residents.

———

Mary Ellen Kazimer is a Patten Free Library trustee. She lives in Woolwich.