EDITOR:

EDITOR:

I was born and educated in Youngstown, Ohio and began my professional career there. When the economy turned south in the early 80s, my husband and I moved south to find work in Dallas, Texas. In 2002, we returned to the valley to care for my aging mother until her death.

It was shocking to see what had become of my hometown during the years I was away. In the face of continuing population and economic declines, I soon realized that the only thing keeping the city and surrounding suburbs afloat was the spending power of huge numbers of retirees, most of whom still had pensions in addition to Social Security. I wondered how the local government was planning to adjust to the imminent loss of the World War II generation and their discretionary income. Of course, they weren’t.

The library system is a case in point. Having lived in Irving, Texas (population 210,000 with one main and two small branch libraries) and Farmers Branch, Texas (population 24,000 with a single library), I was stunned to find that Mahoning County was still maintaining 14 separate library buildings for a population of less than 240,000. And still the library board was acquiring land for new buildings. When the state cut library funding, they went to local voters and asked for a levy not to replace the lost revenue, but to substantially increase their budget. Donors launched a six-figure advertising campaign for the library levy and it passed. This was at a time when renewals of school, police and fire levies were failing throughout the county. In more than one local community, fire stations closed.

What did the library board do with their windfall? They did not study the local demographics and scale down the size of the system based on an average loss of over 20,000 people each decade. They did not build reserves for the future based upon the well-documented evidence of declining property values and tax revenues. They spent every dime as fast as it came in, faster actually – putting themselves into a deficit position by 2009.

At every turn, the library administration made poor decisions. They built new structures that were far more expensive and grandiose than the community standard for retail spaces. They gutted a fine collection of classics and reference materials and squandered their acquisitions budget on what can only be described as ephemera – CDs, paperback books and DVDs with little or no educational value and limited popular appeal after a few, brief months.

It is time for library administration to admit their folly, take responsibility and stop blaming their employees, the community and the State of Ohio for this situation. The taxpayers deserve more respect for their long-standing support. Unfortunately, Mahoning County taxpayers, library patrons and library staff will suffer for decades for the shameful lack of sound judgment and fiscal responsibility in the library leadership.

Jeanne Ann Macejko

13131 Pennystone Drive

Dallas, TX 75244

214-272-3569

jeannegenie@tx.rr.com