Word that the Morgan Hill Library will soon be closed on Mondays
is getting around slowly but the general reaction is dismay.
Word that the Morgan Hill Library will soon be closed on Mondays is getting around slowly but the general reaction is dismay.
“I’m really sorry about that,” Jill McElvey said Thursday afternoon.
McElvey was making one of her frequent visits to the library with her two children. She said she hadn’t heard a word about the new hours but regretted them, especially since she is a teacher and knows how important libraries are to education.
The library at Peak and West Main avenues is part of the Santa Clara County Library System. The Joint Powers Authority, the library governing board, voted unanimously last week to close all nine libraries and the bookmobile on Mondays to make up for a $1.1 million shortfall this year.
Another nail in the coffin of Monday hours is an anticipated $5.3 million shortfall from a parcel tax extension that failed to pass in March. Because it was a tax, a two-thirds majority was needed.
Beginning Oct. 11, patrons will find the doors shut.
A state-implemented budget cut cost the county library system more than 40 percent of its operating budget in 1994. A subsequent measure passed that year, scheduled to end in June 2005, established a $33.66 per year, per-single-family parcel tax to support the system. JPA board members attempted in March to pass another measure to extend funding and raise it to $42 per year, but the vote fell just short of the required two-thirds approval.
Another ballot measure to extend the parcel tax will most likely will get pushed to March 2005, said Morgan Hill City Councilman and JPA board member Steve Tate. Although the need for the funding is definitely there, Tate said, getting the measure passed could be difficult.
“We want to be really sure we can get it passed,” Tate said.
He said he had some good news and some bad, at the Sept. 1 council meeting.
“The good news is that, with $2.4 million saved from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger exempting libraries from the tax shift, there will be no (library staff) layoffs in Morgan Hill,” Tate said.
The news comes just as both Morgan Hill and Gilroy officials began devising plans for new facilities, for which they recently applied for a third round of state construction grants. Both have been denied grants twice before but have hopes for a positive announcement in October or from a future state bond issue.
Staff writer Katie Niekerk contributed to this report.
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
