More News from the Library Board Meeting

Before the library board got around to selling their historic building last night, they did a couple of other things that are worthy of note.

They elected two new board members: Peter Spear, who has been helping the library with marketing and branding, and Dan Jablanski, who, it may be remembered, was the Republican candidate for Common Council president and Dan Grandinetti's running mate in 2005. 

Theresa Parsons and Mark Orton, president and vice president of the library board respectively, reported on their "debriefing" with departing library director, Corey Fleming. An unpursued goal for Fleming had been to get more money for the library by making it a Special Legislative District Public Library. Parsons conceded that a Special District referendum was "definitely on the horizon," since "we can't go back to Hudson" (the City of Hudson currently contributes $120,000 a year to the operation of the library as the result of a successful Chapter 414 referendum in 2009) and "we may not be able to keep what we have now [from Greenport]" (the Town of Greenport currently makes a voluntary contribution of $5,500 a year). 

Simply put, becoming a Special Legislative District Public Library would make the library an entity much like a school district, with a board that is elected by the voters in the area served by the library, an annual budget that must be approved by voters, and the ability to levy taxes on property in the district to raise its annual budget. 

The Hudson Area Library was tried twice in the past to become a Special Legislative District Public Library. The first time was in March 2000, when to the crushing disappointment of everyone involved with the library at the time, the referendum was defeated by just two votes. Two years later, the library tried again, and the outcome was different but ultimately the same. A Special District referendum requires authorizing legislation, and the second time around, Senator Stephen Saland was prevailed upon to split the referendum into two issues: (1) approval of the library becoming a Special Legislative District Public Library; and (2) approval of the proposed library budget. The voters approved the former and rejected the latter, so, since a Special Legislative District Public Library can't exist without an approved budget, the attempt failed again.

Since 2002, the library has successfully implemented Chapter 414 of New York State law to get tax support from the City of Hudson. In 2004, a successful Chapter 414 referendum increased the City of Hudson's voluntarily contribution of $25,000 to a voter mandated contribution of $48,000. In 2009, another Chapter 414 referendum increased Hudson's mandated contribution from $48,000 to $120,000. A referendum in Greenport, requesting an increase from a voluntary $5,500 to a mandated $16,500, failed. 

The Hudson Area Association Library is chartered to serve Hudson and Greenport. A Special Legislative District for the library would include Hudson and Greenport and possibly also Stockport.