What’s a Library Worth?
Public libraries are facing tough times of late, but I was shocked and saddened to learn recently that my local library is scheduled to close next year due to city budget cuts. It seems Covina voters last year opted not to renew the city utility tax, which funds libraries, parks, and recreational facilities, among other services. Without the utility tax, the library will be forced to shut down, along with a host of other community services and even a fire station.
If the Covina Public Library closes, it would reportedly be the first time in California history that any city library would be forced to shut down. Libraries have been such an integral part of my life that it is unfathomable to me that a community would not vote to support one. According to Covina Community Matters, the utility users’ tax for the average Covina family is $39 a month. As my family’s resident penny-pincher, I can well appreciate the desire to cut forty bucks from my monthly budget. But what will we lose in exchange? Here are just a few things scheduled for the axe:
* the Covina Public Library will close
* the Parks and Recreation Department will close and all of its programs will be terminated (include the senior center, afterschool programs, and youth sports)
* Closure of one fire station
* Dramatic reduction of police services, including elimination of school crossing guards.
Many other community services, including the annual Christmas parade, will go away. (I personally won’t lose much sleep about the parade, as I tend to be bah-humbug about sitting curbside for hours to catch fleeting glimpses of school marching bands and city officials … but school crossing guards? A fire station? We’re talking safety here!
And for a reader and writer, the closure of a library is like a knife to the heart.
I, for one, can’t put a price tag on my community’s safety or cultural resources. But if I could, it would surely be more than forty bucks.
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