Dear Neighbors and Friends,
On behalf of the Savona Free Library Board of Trustees I am providing you with information about the Library and the 2015 Library Budget Vote. This year voting will be held on Tuesday, May 19th, at the Campbell-Savona Junior-Senior High School from 12 Noon – 8:00 PM.
First, I am pleased to tell you that Candy Wilson was recently hired as the new library director. Candy has a Masters in Library Science, and certification as public librarian and previously was at the Troy Public Library and was the Director of the Rensselaerville Library. She brings energy, commitment and expertise. Candy is adding new programming such as Family and Teen Movie nights, and the Library has co-sponsored informational meetings for adults on Medicare and Alzheimer’s Disease. Storytime for children is held twice a month and the Summer Reading Program will be held in the summer.
Many think of libraries only as a place where you go to borrow books. While you can certainly still borrow books, and lots of people do, the library offers many more services. You can borrow DVDs, CDs and audiobooks. You can download music through Freegal, a service the library added last Fall. There are public computers in the library that you can use to access the internet and the library is a Wi-Fi hotspot so you can connect 24/7. Many in our communities are unable to afford a home computer, or access of the Internet. In this new day and age access to the internet is needed to be able to do things like applying for a job, or apply for unemployment benefits, to change an address with the postal service, or many other services including Federal and State Government services.
For those of you with internet access you might like to use e-books instead of print books. What would you say to being able to read e-books without having to buy them? The Savona Free Library offers a digital collection. By accessing our website and having a library card our patrons are able to borrow e-books, audio books, and stream movies, at any time. For example, suppose you wanted to read a book late at night. The thought of reading a book to relax would be good, but there are no new books in the house. Head to the digital library and in minutes be able to have a book you wanted to try. Yes, you can do this through the Savona Free Library.
What does the Library Budget Vote mean to the average resident? The current funding of $45,500 means the average property owner with a $90,000 home, pays approximately $15.97 in Library Tax per year. Property owners enrolled in the STAR program pay even less. We are requesting that residents of the District approve funding of $49,900. This will result in a new average Library tax of approximately $16.79 per year. The increase for the average property owner will be approximately $0.82 per year . The annual library investment is less than the price of one new book or DVD.
Why does the Library need this increase? The costs of providing Library services have steadily increased. There were no tax increases for the last 2 years. For LESS THAN $1 PER YEAR your support will allow the Library to continue to provide services that the children, teens and adults of the Campbell and Savona communities use and deserve.
Thank you in advance for voting on May 19th.
Bill Fiske,
and the Savona Free Library Board of Trustees