During the Mayor's Report portion of Monday night's Washington, Missouri City Council meeting, Mayor Stratman opened a discussion regarding the City of Washington's Public Library and its relationship with the Scenic Regional Library.  He provided to Council a letter which discusses his position and reasoning about the current and future relationship between the Washington Public Library and the Scenic Regional Library.  The Mayor's letter is included below.

 

 

To: The Citizens of Washington and the Washington School District

The City of Washington Library dates back to Saturday, September 29, 1909.  In 1965, the State passed a law that froze our Library District to what the city limits were in 1965.  This law meant that the Washington Library could not grow as the town grew.  Consequently, the funding for our library remained static while the community that the library serves grew in numbers.  Since 1965, the area around Washington became part of Scenic Regional Library which covers all of Franklin, Warren and Gasconade Counties, except the City of Washington as it existed in 1965.  Since then our library continued to grow and improve with population, while Scenic Regional’s libraries received all of the increased revenue from your tax dollars.  Now you might ask the question “So what?  This sounds reasonable to me.”

 

First let me tell you a little about our Washington Library and see how it compares to Scenic’s Libraries.  The City of Washington’s Library is open more hours than any of Scenic’s eight (8) libraries.  It is the only library open on Sunday.  It is the only library open three (3) evenings per week.  Our library is open to all Scenic Regional patrons as well as City patrons.  We have a great library and a wonderful library staff.  We have had a history of dedicated librarians in the past who are responsible for the status of our library today.  As Mayor, I support the library and encourage the improvement of its services.  Personally, I use the library extensively.  So you again say “Mayor, what’s the problem?”

Well the problem is funding.  It’s all about who pays for the library service.  As Mayor my duty is to see that our tax dollars are spent prudently.  We only have so much revenue and I don’t feel we should always go back to the voters for more tax increases to fund government.  We need to find ways to economize and operate more efficiently and we need to make sure, we as a city, receive our fair share of the taxes that we as residents pay each year.  (As a taxpayer I would like to receive services for my taxes.  At least I would like the tax paying community to receive a return for the taxes they pay).

Now let me give you a little information about the Washington Library and how it is funded.  The 2007 Library budget is as follows:

As you can see, the library tax does not cover the library’s expenses.  My point is that the City should not be taking any money from general revenue to fund our library.  This is not because our library is not a worthwhile service on which to spend money.  It is a very significant part of our community and a valuable resource and a good use of tax dollars.  The reason is there is plenty of money – tax money in the City of Washington and the Washington School District to fund our library.  The problem is it does not go to our community.  To access Scenic Regional you need to travel to one of eight (8) Scenic Regional Libraries.  The one exception is the book mobile that does provide a very limited service to the entire Scenic area.

Here is a picture of the taxes that go to Scenic Regional from this area: from the City of Washington – that part of the City in Scenic Regional – in 2007-2008 the amount was $158,443.00.

•    Folks, more money in library taxes goes to Scenic Regional from this city than goes to our own Washington Library.
•    Funding for our library is static while Scenic grows as we continue to grow.
•    From the rest of the Washington School District in the 2007-08 fiscal year Scenic Regional receives another $300,000 in taxes.

Let me restate: In 2007, Scenic Regional received almost $460,000 in tax revenue from the Washington School District not located in the Washington Library District.

You say; so what?  What’s wrong with this picture?  The Washington School District sends more money to Scenic Regional in taxes than any other school district, yet it is the only school district without a library facility.  Sure, you in Washington can drive to Warrenton, Union, New Haven or Pacific for library services but, why?  We pay enough taxes to have our own library.  We should have our own library.  Why don’t we have our own regional library?  It’s because the City of Washington is providing services to the Washington School District residents so there is not a demand for Scenic to provide services.  Most people are not aware of what is happening to their tax dollars for library services.  Unfortunately, your tax dollars go to other communities providing their library services.

In this past year’s budget, this agreement netted the Washington Library $17,143.75.  This agreement has the basics for a true cost sharing agreement.  Sixty percent of our library users are Scenic Regional patrons because although they live in Washington city limits, they are outside the perimeter set in 1965.  It is my position as Mayor that Scenic should pay 60% of our operating budget if Scenic members are to be able to use our library.  This seems fair and it is much more economical than Scenic building a library in Washington for its patrons.  Scenic would still have surplus dollars since 60% of our budget would not be close to the almost on-half million dollars that Scenic receives from the Washington School District.  As members of Scenic paying taxes we should demand services equal to the taxes we pay.  Scenic could partner with the Washington Library and deliver a high level of service without spending all these tax dollars from the Washington area.

Again, I am prepared to not allow any general revenue to be used to fund our library.  This is my position and is not to my knowledge the City Council’s position.  The Council ultimately controls spending and it will be there decision but my reasons are sound.  We need to spend general revenue wisely.  There is no need to spend where funding is adequate for library services.  The City’s Police, Communications, and Fire Departments have additional needs.  Protecting life and property should never be compromised.  We should always be open to additional funding for those departments.  In our present budget, Police overtime was cut back due to budget constraints.

As a community I would hope you support my position on this matter.  We need to have a great library but it needs to be funded fairly.  There is no need for our residents to pay double for their library services.  And we do pay double because we pay our library taxes and we also pay out of general tax revenue.  Look again at our budget.

We are paying double – hopefully the Scenic Board and the Washington Library Board can reach a funding agreement that will allow the Washington Library to partner with Scenic and deliver a high level of library service for this community and the surrounding communities.  Expanded hours and Sunday hours will serve the entire three county area.  What I want from Scenic Regional is a reciprocal borrowing agreement that compensates the Washington Library for the true cost of providing library services to the Washington community patrons of Scenic Regional.

Sincerely,

Mayor Dick Stratman