MEXICO – The Mexico Free Public Library is a critical part of the culture and the town’s identity and should be retained, many told town officials working on the town budget Monday night.
The opinion was the primary message many from the community told a combined meeting of the Budget Committee and selectmen, who are developing the 2005-2006 municipal budget.
“One-third of the community uses this library. To cut this education is like cutting your own throat,” Matt Gallant said.
More than 75 people attended the session, and most supported keeping the library open.
At a combined meeting of the boards last week, some on the Budget Committee suggested closing the library in favor of paying $2 per person to the town of Rumford for use of its library.
Now, selectmen have approved sending a library budget of $28,500, plus about $11,000 in benefits, to town meeting for a vote. The Budget Committee is expected to make its recommendation at a Tuesday night meeting beginning at 6.p.m.
In discussions with Rumford’s librarian and town manager, Mexico Town Manager John Madigan Jr. said there would be no guarantee that Mexico could pay $2 per person if residents decided to close the Mexico library.
The Rumford library allows use of its library at a fee of $2 person person for the towns of Roxbury, Hanover, Byron and Peru. If Mexico could negotiate such a deal, that would total about $6,000 annually.
He said Rumford offers the rate because those towns have no library, and it does so as a courtesy. Few people from the four towns use Rumford’s library under the $2-per-person rate.
“Rumford would certainly want to rethink that ($2) rate for Mexico,” Madigan said.
He said 1,100 Mexico residents currently use the Mexico library, more than a third of the town’s population. He said sending Mexico readers to the Rumford library would likely result in a more equal distribution of the Rumford library budget. Right now, Rumford budgets $215,000 a year, plus benefits, for the operation of its library.
He said that works out to $24 per person that Rumford pays in support of its library while Mexico pays only about $9.
“I think you are getting a good thing for what you’ve been paying here. You should be quite pleased with what you’ve got,” he said.
“We’ve got to look at cutting back somewhere,” said Budget Committee member Betty Barrett when the discussion turned to possibly reducing the librarian’s position from full-time to half-time. That would save $11,000 in benefits and part of the salary.
Budget Committee Chairman Byron Ouellette said the last thing he’d want to do is close the library.
“But if we don’t stop spending, we’ll eat up any savings on taxes,” he said, referring to a recently enacted state law aimed at reducing property taxes.
Mexico’s current tax rate is $28.50 per $1,000 valuation. Madigan said he expects it to remain the same or decline slightly.
Madigan has proposed a budget of $2 million, which is $200,000 more than last year. The town has had no surplus money for a couple of years, he said, and it would take a couple of years to build up the $300,000 recommended by the Maine Municipal Association for a town its size.
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