Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
Further to your recent editorial concerning the library contract between our municipality and Owen Sound in which you concluded that we are being “ripped off” I would like to point out the following.
Using the statistics provided in your editorial, the cost per capita for Sydenham residents (1/3 of Meaford Population) is about $36. ($120,000/(1/3 of 11,100) where you have the contract cost divided by 1/3 of the 2011 census population. The balance of our municipality approximately 7800 people in St Vincent and the town of Meaford are serviced by one library which according to the 2015 FIR cost the taxpayers about $489,000 to run after grants and minor revenue. The per capita cost of this library is about $63. ($489,000/7800). With the Meaford library costs at about 1.75 times the cost per capita of the Sydenham contract, the Owen Sound fee is a huge bargain.
When you use the term “rip-off” to describe the Owen Sound contract at $36/capita, I would use the term “bloated” to describe the cost of the Meaford Library at $63. How else could you describe something that is almost twice the price paid for library services for Sydenham residents!
Furthermore if you look at West Grey and Grey Highlands that operate multiple libraries, their costs per capita after grants and minor revenues are $22 and $36 respectively. (Source 2015 FIR) Chatsworth and Georgian Bluffs that are part of the same Owen Sound Contract have costs per capita slightly under $30. I am not sure why Sydenham’s rate of $36 is higher than other members of the contract but regardless the costs are much less than the costs per capita of the Meaford Library.
As to your comment that we should be outraged about the Owen Sound contract, I suggest we all should be outraged at the cost of the Meaford library.
If you are going to complain about the cost for the Sydenham contract, please at least question why the Meaford library costs are so high and much higher than our neighbours who have multiple internet equipped libraries i.e. more service at less cost. Please remember since we do not have Area Rating in our municipality , residents of Sydenham not only pay the $120K to Owen Sound from our taxes but we also share the bloated costs for the Meaford Library.
In speaking of fairness, I suggest it would be ideal if we “area rate” the library costs since the Library Board and you are so upset at what it costs for Sydenham to have library services. Out of our portion of the municipal tax levy, we in Sydenham will continue to pay the Owen Sound Contract(after renegotiating the rate down closer to what Chatsworth and Georgian Bluffs pay) and St Vincent and Meaford taxpayers can pay for all the costs of the current and any future library. That would be totally fair.
Once we settle this library situation with area rating we can then look at other areas that should be area rated for fairness. For instance in Sydenham and parts of St Vincent we have the Inter-county Fire Dept but we also have to pay for the Meaford Fire department which provides no service to the West end of the municipality. Let’s area rate those costs as well. There are street light costs, the marina and future improvements and the cemetery as well. All these services and costs incurred are easily segregated and can be area rated in the interest of fairness.
As far as your implication that Sydenham residents are quite vocal in trying to control the costs of running our municipality I totally agree with you and here is an additional idea that would really save us some money. The current rate charged by the Blue Mountain library for out of town members is $75 per household. Our municipality could close the high cost Meaford Library and pay for all the households in St Vincent and Meaford to use the Blue Mountain Library. Driving distances from the 7th Line and Meaford Hall to the Blue Mountain library are about 16 and 13 Km which are less than driving distances from say Balaclava and Irish Mountain to the Owen Sound Library(over 20 KM). People in the East end would be closer to a library than some residents in Sydenham.
Using the2011 census average of 2.5 people per household in Canada our municipality would need to pay for about 3120 household memberships for the St Vincent and Meaford population. (7800/2.5) The annual cost would be about $234,000. I am sure Blue Mountain would be open to this. The total cost savings to the municipality would be about $255,000($489,000-234,000) assuming the Owen Sound contract is kept for the western population. If you are not interested in area rating the present library service then this is a viable alternative. The Eastern population have a library service. We save a great deal of money and the distances travelling to a library are similar for residents in both ends of the municipality. This is another fair solution.
In conclusion I think your editorial is completely without merit . The contract for the Sydenham library is slightly higher than other members of the Owen Sound library union, and should be addressed but the real” rip off” is the cost of the singular library in Meaford town proper. Since it seems to bother both you and the Library Board even though its costs are close to what other municipalities pay lets discuss area rating the cost of this service or if that is not to your liking then the municipality can actually discontinue the Meaford Library program with its excessive high costs and join Blue Mountain’s library program saving over a quarter million dollars annually.
Barry Vallier, Annan
