Dear Library Patrons:

Unless something changes, on July 14, Blue Hill voters will be asked to unwittingly slash library funding by 50%, setting municipal funding for library services back to levels not seen in 15 years.  

Because of the difficulty of hosting a town meeting in a pandemic and the unusual way the town is having to conduct its affairs, voters will not explicitly see this cut on the ballot that they cast. Article 14 of the proposed ballot lists expenditures for the 2020 Municipal Budget. Library funding is not specified and is lumped into the heading “Donations to Charities.” No year to year itemized comparison is written.

The irony is that I learned all of this after I delivered a letter to Town Hall last week, voluntarily reducing the library’s 2020 request for funding by $10,000, from $87,000 to $77,000. I had been reading in the Weekly Packet about the anticipated financial difficulties faced by the municipality and on our own initiative, the library board agreed to amend our request. 

In their reply I learned that the town officials had already decided our fate, BHPL will receive 50% of our 2019 Town Meeting appropriation . At no point did the town announce that they would be discussing library funding – I could find no public notice on the town website. The last I had heard was notification from the chair of the budget committee in February that the selectboard and budget committee would be recommending 2019 funding levels for library services.

Most troubling to me is, unlike every other year, there is no mechanism by which a voter can amend an article . While I accept that our normal form of town meeting government has been disrupted by COVID-19, and the selectboard is working in good faith and in uncharted territory, in normal times, a citizen could be recognized at Town Meeting and persuade voters to change an article from the floor. Unfortunately, it appears that no such method has been provided for that during these times. The selectboard is putting forth these 14 articles, each for an up or down vote, with limited detail on the contents of the article and no opportunity for voters to make changes. 

There is an online public hearing scheduled on all of the warrant articles (June 29 or 30, still TBD as of last night, 6/15/20), but if I understand correctly, no changes will be allowed at that point. The hearing is more of a presentation to explain what the selectboard and school committee have worked out.

I understand the need to address a looming budget crisis and we respect the difficult position that our town officials are in. The town anticipates serious shortfalls in revenue and has already dug deep into reserve funds in recent years. But the library is being asked to accept the largest share of the reduction in funding to “charities” ($42,650 of 48,025 in cuts) and is being asked to do so for the current year, the one we are already halfway through , in which we had already been advised of their support for funding the library at the same amount as last year. 

What can you do to help? It’s hard to say as all of this seems to be somewhat of a fait accompli . You could certainly express any concerns or opinions that you have to your elected officials.  If you do speak with them, I ask you to please express yourselves civilly.

My understanding is that, should the voters choose to vote NO on Article 14, the selectboard could choose to fund those items at 2019 levels.

What does a 50% reduction in funding from the Town of Blue Hill mean for library services? It is too early to say definitively, but with 70% of the library’s budget dedicated to staffing (which is typical in public libraries), we may have no choice but to eventually reduce operating hours, trim payroll and take a very tough look at material expenditures.  

Libraries everywhere strive to serve as a ‘port in a storm’ in tough circumstances. At a time when we anticipate families are going to rely on our services to access critical, free resources, job searching, and benefits applications, as well as educational and entertainment resources as they tighten their own belts, we will do everything we can to provide these vital services to the community. To lose this level of support from our town at this time would be a hard blow to all of us.  

I am not telling you how you should vote, but the public should know that Article 14, if passed as currently proposed, means a 50% reduction in municipal funding for library services .

Thank you for your consideration and support,



Rich Boulet
Library Director
Blue Hill Public Library
5 Parker Point Road
Blue Hill, ME 04614
207-374-5515