Hartford Selectboard takes library funding out of main budget, forces standalone vote

By FRANCES MIZE

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 03-04-2023 11:00 AM

HARTFORD — The annual funding for libraries in Hartford has been handed directly to voters, and library advocates are concerned it has put the financial stability of the institutions at risk.

On the warning at Tuesday’s Town Meeting, residents will be asked to approve operating budget for the libraries — but unlike past years, the money will be drawn from the local option tax revenue instead of the general fund, which has been the norm.

Article 21 on the ballot asks voters to authorize the expenditure of “exactly $332,710 of Local Option Tax Revenue Funds for the purpose of assisting various organizations owning or in control of Libraries,” and breaks down the budgets of the town’s libraries, which include the Hartford, Quechee and Wilder locations.

In the past, Local Option Tax, or LOT, revenues — raised by a 1% tax on rooms, meals, and alcohol sales — have been used to fund things such as cemetery upkeep and the purchase of town equipment.

Anytime LOT funding is used for a budget item, it must be approved by voters separately from the main budget.

The decision to shift the source of funds came as a shock to library staff.

“This is in no way normal practice, nor was there any communication to the libraries of this decision,” the Quechee Library wrote on its website.

“With this act, the three incorporated libraries who provide over 85% of the library services in town have been put at risk for continued operation,” the post continues. “The disrespect shown for the Town’s obligation to fund library services is evident.”

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Active fundraising for capital expenses such as a new heating system in Quechee, as well as restoration of the Wilder building, “is jeopardized when a town administration and board choose to put into question ongoing funding,” the post reads.

While the Selectboard guaranteed to the libraries that it would draw funds from elsewhere if the vote fails, “it still seems wrong to us,” said David Izzo, treasurer of the Quechee Library’s board of trustees.

“Without funding we’d probably have to shut down the library,” he said. “This means our staff losing their jobs and a tremendous investment in the library going to waste.”

Izzo pointed to the recent digitization of the Vermont State University system’s library collection, which occurred as a budgetary measure.

“With the state of the economy and the way other library stories are going in the state, this is not a pretty picture,” he said.

The Selectboard addressed concerns about the libraries in a letter to Hartford residents.

“The fact that the library funding is subject to a separate vote does not reflect a belief on the part of the Selectboard that the library funding should be subject to further scrutiny or that we do not value our libraries and the many services they provide to our community,” the letter reads.

The Selectboard wrote that using LOT funds for the library will not increase the tax rate, “as the LOT funds have already been raised and appropriating them does not impact the tax rate.”

Some residents are also concerned about the stability of that funding for the library, as well as the implications it has for tax increases.

White River Junction resident Mary Kay Brown, advocating for more transparency in the budget, argued that the shifted funding is “like a shell game.”

“Using LOT funds may not increase the advertised tax rate increase of almost 4% this year, but if the library budget had been left in the General Fund budget, the increase would have been closer to 6%,” Brown wrote in an email to the Valley News. “By taking the library budget to LOT funds, the board is able to say we only have a 4% increase in our taxes, not a 6% increase.”

Brown hopes that the article passes so the board won’t have to “scramble to find $332,710 elsewhere to cover the cost.” But she hopes this isn’t setting a pattern.

“This sort of expenditure needs to go back in the General Fund budget and stay there,” she wrote. “The board will have to work harder to keep our annual increases down to something more reasonable in future years.”

Frances Mize is a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at fmize@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.

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