Perhaps you’ve stopped by the library when a table of teenagers were working on a project together. Or maybe you go in to check out books or media, or to use the computer or print something out. Occasionally you can donate or buy books there. There was even a local art show on display last year. The parking lot is often at capacity.
At the Town Board meeting on November 17th, Pine Plains Free Library trustee Keary Hanan read out some statistics, assembled with the assistance of Librarian Alexis Tackett (a board member of this newspaper), to make the case that the library needs more assistance from the town than it currently receives. In her remarks, Hannan emphasized that “the library provides resources and services for literacy and education for everyone in this community. People are connected to information and people are connected to each other.” She asked that the town increase funding for the library so it can continue to successfully serve Pine Plains residents.
While the town of Pine Plains provides and maintains the building (the library pays a nominal rent of $10 a year), it is difficult to separate the cost to the town of the library itself, as the community center upstairs and the basement downstairs, over which the library has no oversight, also use electricity and heat. A comparable Dutchess library, in Clinton, rents its building from the town for $1 a year, but receives much greater financial support.
The Pine Plains Free Library is the least funded public library in Dutchess County, but is not the smallest or the least utilized. Comparable libraries in terms of usage and cardholders are North East/Millerton and Clinton Community Libraries. The current Pine Plains Free Library budget is over $140,000. The town provides $99,500 of that. There was no increase in support from the town for the library this year. Since 2017, staffing costs have gone up 44%, partly due to increases in the minimum wage, while the library has seen only a 17% increase in funding from the town. Meeting operating costs requires fundraising efforts. Grants help meet some programming costs, which for the Pine Plains library are about $8,000, compared to similarly sized local libraries, which allocate about $15,000 to programs.
The library spends money on three areas: staffing, materials and programs. There are three full-time employees. Payroll for the past year was $90,000, in contrast to about $115,000 for Millerton and Clinton libraries. Volunteers are crucial, but not enough to keep the library running smoothly. An additional staff person will bring payroll to $103,000 for 2023.
In terms of usage, there has been a 30% increase in circulation of both digital and physical materials this year. Materials include books, digital resources, ebooks, magazines and databases. The current expenditure of $10,000 will go to $12,000 next year because of inflation and cost increases. “It should be at $20,000,” according to Tackett. “Millerton spends $30,000. Clinton, $15,000.”
Because of its limited financial support, the library now has to close on Mondays. The library is still well above the number of hours it must be open to meet New York State standards. However, without an increase from the town, they will have to potentially cut staff and hours further as minimum wage rises in January.
Beth McLiverty, President of the Board of Trustees, said, “Keary did an excellent job articulating the library budget challenges at the Town Hall meeting last week. We appreciate being able to utilize one third of the community center provided by the town, but we also have monetary needs for salaries, programs, digital options and materials that continue to climb in cost. In 2023, in order to cover the $40,000 difference between our budget of $140,000 and the $99,500 that will be provided by the town, we will need to use monies from donations that we had been saving to make improvements to the physical space. We will shelve those improvement plans, and look for new ways to raise funds in 2023 to provide the best library possible for Pine Plains.”
On town decorating day, those efforts began, with a silent auction of baked goods (including cakes, pies and cupcakes) that many people bid on. The baked goods were on display at the Stissing Center, where the library offered hot soup, free of charge, to townspeople coming in out of the cold to warm up.
If you would like to make a donation to the library, details on how to offer your support are at https://www.pineplainslibrary.org/support/