In a blatant act of retribution for digging into financial issues concerning the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Trustee President Joseph Maiorana and the board of directors called an unscheduled “emergency” meeting two weeks ago to cancel the advertising contract with the South Shore Press. This paper has long been an effective source of news and information about the library and eliminating it as a communication platform is not in the best interest of the taxpayers.
Apart from any other publication or news source, the Press ran detailed coverage of the annual budget vote and the library trustee race. By asking questions of the trustees and the director, we provided information and explanations about library spending and the issues involved in the election far beyond what was provided publicly by the library. We produced fair and balanced coverage of both candidates and the library even used our editorial to urge a “YES” vote on the budget which, in fact, garnered support for its spending plan which was approved.
What the library officials probably didn’t appreciate were the tough questions we asked about the capital budget and reporting the fact that costs for the main library renovation and the new annexes far exceed original estimates. According to the officials themselves, the projects are running $3 million plus higher than what they previously anticipated. We printed their stated reasons for this and their plans to meet the shortfall. We also ran comments from taxpayers expressing their objections to using reserve funds to cover the cost overruns and calling for the monies, approved by the voters for operating costs, be returned to them, not shifted over to the capital account. We also questioned why absentee ballots went out that were blank where voters should have been prompted to indicate their decision on the budget.
After one of our stories appeared, Library Director Kerri Rosalia issued a Facebook post titled, “Shame on the South Shore Press,” and denied there were any cost overruns. In the next breath, she said, “And if circumstances ultimately require the library to tap into surplus funds to address these new priority expenses, that will not be something out of the ordinary.”
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| Library Trustee President Joseph Maiorana |
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| Artist rendering of the proposed over-budget main library building |
• The original budget for the capital projects was $22.7 million from the voter-approved referendum and $4 million from the reserve. How much over this amount will be spent?
• How much is currently in the reserve fund; how much reserve money has been spent so far on the capital projects?
• What is the amount that will go into the reserve from the current budget? How much was transferred from the budgets for the last three years?
• How much of the recently-approved budget is estimated to go into the reserve?
• What specific line items in the budget have the reserve funds come from?
• How many staff positions funded in the current budget are not filled? How much money has been saved by keeping them open?
• If necessary, what parts of the main library project will be scaled back or changed to lower costs?
These are the critical issues before us, and the library officials can’t hide from the facts. The taxpayers who are paying the bills have a right to know and the South Shore Press will continue its push for the answers. We believe the officials are either hiding the truth about the institution’s finances or they are incompetent. Perhaps State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli should commence a full forensic audit of the library’s capital spending so we can all find out the truth. It’s time to open their books.