REFERENCE POINT

Library Budget Vote Set for April 12

The proposed operating budget of $559,736 requires a real property tax of $496,736, which represents a $22,944 (4.80%) increase in taxes over this year's budget. The remainder of the 5.9% increase in operating expenses will be offset by the appropriated fund balance.

The budget proposition translates into an estimated library tax of $.44 per $1,000 of assessed valuation for a home in Goshen, based on last years equalization rates. A Goshen home assessed at $150,000 would pay a library tax of $66.38 ($1.88 more than last year).

Trustee Positions

Patty Garnett, known to many Goshenites as an employee of Linda's Office Supply, has been a library trustee for the past five years, and the board's president for the past three years. "I enjoy giving time to the library, which is why I would like to serve again," she explains.

Patty is pleased that during the years she has been a trustee, the library began offering public Internet access, electronic inter-library loans, regularly scheduled adult programs, teen programs, and full-time reference service.

In addition, the audio book collection has more than doubled in size. Circulation and program attendance of all types has grown monumentally. "I am excited to be a part of this burgeoning service. We would like to keep growing but need a new facility in which to do so. I am as committed as ever to a new library building" she says.

Linda Hannigan has also been a library trustee for five years. A CPA and new partner of the Wappinger Falls firm Sedore & Co., specializing in municipal finance, she has been the library treasurer for the past five years as well. Under her stewardship the library has managed to maintain a small fund balance which enables it to sustain operations from July until October while awaiting the receipt of tax money, and to keep budget increases to a minimum.

Linda also points with pride to the growth in library services during her tenure as a trustee, including the development of the library's website as an extension of its on-site reference service. Like Patty Garnett, she is a staunch proponent of a new building.

Linda has one son and is a 22-year resident of Goshen.

Janet Markiewicz is a 26-year resident of Goshen who was active in the PTA at each level of the Goshen schools. She states, "The population of the towns comprising the Goshen Central School District has grown since the Goshen Public Library and Historical Society constructed its addition in 1977. With that growth came an explosion in technology and changes in the educational standards for our students. It becomes clear that we have outgrown our present library. The existing Board of Trustees has researched extensively the options for a new library, one that will be more than adequate for us now and in the future. I would like to be an integral part in the development of this plan for expansion, and so am running for a position on the Board of Trustees."

She continues, "My three sons were all born here and attended the Goshen schools. They participated in story hour and summer reading programs, and used the resources of the library for their reports and papers. I, myself, am a constant user of the library and am a voracious reader. All of us should be life-long learners, and I feel that we should have a library worthy of that objective."

National Poetry Month