Hard times are ahead for Morgan Hill
’s library since a request for an additional $8.34 a year for
property owners to keep the doors open and books on the shelves was
deemed too expensive for many voters. The parcel tax is currently
$33.66.
Hard times are ahead for Morgan Hill’s library since a request for an additional $8.34 a year for property owners to keep the doors open and books on the shelves was deemed too expensive for many voters. The parcel tax is currently $33.66.
Measure B, which would have extended an existing parcel tax, with the increase, past its expiration date of June 2005, was defeated, even though it received more than 60 percent of the votes cast. Since Proposition 13 passed in the 1970s, California tax increases have needed a two-third’s approval.
Councilman Steve Tate, who is Morgan Hill’s chief library fan and the city’s representative to the Joint Powers Authority that runs the nine-city Santa Clara County Library System, worked hard to get the measure passed.
“This is so far below what we expected,” said Tate. He said Monday that he expected a yes vote of 69 percent.
“We did better than Gavilan did (Measure E) but I’m really disappointed. Still, the campaign couldn’t have been run better,” he said. “The Friends of the Library, the American Association of University Women, local people all the way up to the county library office all did a great job. And that adds to the disappointment.”
He said the JPA will discuss the effects of losing Measure B at its March 25 meeting (1:30 p.m. at the Campbell Library, 77 Harrison Ave. and open to the public). Because the state has severely curtailed the money it will send to the system by 2005-06 – 10 percent so far, plus the impending end of the parcel tax that pays for 21 percent of operations, cuts will begin sooner rather than later.
Morgan Hill City Librarian Nancy Howe is bracing for bad times because of Tuesday’s vote.
“We’re expecting layoffs and reduced hours,” said Howe. “It’s unknown at this point at what level the state cuts will be but one scenario has us looking at a 30 percent budget cut. Morgan Hill’s hours will probably go from 54 down to 30 hours a week.”
Howe said it’s likely that the library will remain closed one day besides Sunday and there would be reduced hours on all other days.
“We know more cuts are on the way. We know bad times are coming,” Howe said, adding that librarians are absolutely committed to providing excellent service to Morgan Hill when the library is open.
Besides paying for staff, which translates into hours, the parcel tax would pay for a significant part of new materials – books, videos, CDs, newspapers and magazines.
County head librarian Melinda Cervantes’s week wasn’t any better than Howe’s and her predictions are the same.
“There will be layoffs. Books and materials budgets will be reduced,” Cervantes said. “This is a library system that has been through this before. We’ll have to go through it again.”
She said librarians will know more after the March 25 JPA meeting.
Beyond the imminent budget cuts, directors will consider at that session approaching voters again. The November 2005 ballot is the earliest they could put another measure on the ballot.
Directors may also consider a ballot initiative that treats libraries like schools. For school bonds, a super-majority of only 55 percent approval is required for passage. Some library supporters feel the institutions should be treated the same.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy said he was terribly disappointed too.
“In retrospect the timing was probably not right,” Kennedy said. “A lot of people are still suffering financially. It would have fared better in November. Hopefully we can try it again.
The parcel tax cannot return to the ballot for one year.
In other news, the fine for an overdue book will increase April 1 from 20 to 25 cents.
“That will bring us in line with other library systems,” Howe said, “and help a bit with the budget.”
Staff Writer Eric Leins contributed to this report.
