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August 12, 2010

Keep libraries open in Camden

http://www.cournierpostonline.com

OPINION

August 12, 2010
Whoever runs the libraries, the most important thing is that they continue to exist.

Last month, Camden Mayor Dana Redd announced that the city library system would only be given $281,667 in the budget year that began July 1. That's less than a third of the $905,000 budgeted to the Camden library system last year.

All three public libraries in Camden -- in Fairview, Centerville and downtown -- faced potential closure by the end of 2010. In fact, they could still face that sad fate if a rescue plan for the county library system to take over were to fall apart.

Sure, there's reason to be skeptical. As Camden residents made clear to the city council Tuesday, they're worried the county library system will close one or two of the three libraries. With so many city residents not owning cars, closing any of the branches would take away library access from many Camden residents.

And there's grounds to wonder if the sharp cut in funding for the city libraries and speculation that all three libraries would close, followed by the county's quick offer to help, wasn't a political maneuver of some kind.

Whatever the case, none of it changes the fact that the best thing for city residents is for the libraries to remain open. If having the libraries join the county system and cutting some employees is the way to do that, then it should be done.

A community needs libraries. A community like Camden especially needs libraries. They are a safe place where learning can happen, where kids can entertain themselves, where adults who don't have computers at home can access the Internet.

The city, coming out of state takeover, is staring at a financial mess. The budget Redd proposed Tuesday for the current fiscal year calls for spending $138.8 million. Even raising property taxes for the first time in eight years will still only bring in about $21 million in revenue. The rest is to come in the form of regular and transitional aid from the state. To get the $54 million in transitional aid, the city must show it is making every effort to cut costs and generate new revenue. Furloughing city workers, which is being done; cutting across the board including the library and even police to the tune of $14 million (in a city where more cops, not fewer, are needed); and raising the municipal property tax rate slightly is a way to demonstrate that.
Considering all of this, the city is right to negotiate terms for the county system to take over Camden's libraries. One term the city should try to get in an agreement is that all three branches stay open, even if for limited hours each week.

As author Archibald MacLeish once wrote, "What is more important in a library than anything else -- than everything else -- is the fact that it exists."
Camden's libraries must continue to exist. The people of Camden, especially the children of Camden, need them.

Posted by tumulty at August 12, 2010 9:42 AM

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