Hull weighs tax hike for library, other needs

By Constance Lindner, Globe correspondent

From a comfortable leather chair upstairs, visitors pause from reading and look out at dinghies bobbing on the bay. Downstairs, a man asks for resume-writing material, while another patron checks his e-mail, and children gather for story hour.

It’s the Hull Public Library, set in Hull Village in a stone-and-shingle Victorian mansion with stained glass windows and a paneled staircase. The doors have been open to book borrowers for 95 years, but today are in danger of being shuttered because of the town’s budget woes.

These pressures are leaving residents with two unpopular options, referred to as ‘‘Budget A’’ and ‘‘Budget B.’’

Budget A, the default budget more or less in place, calls for the closing not only of the library, but also two of the town’s three public school libraries, as well as extracurricular and sports programs. It also would further reduce the number of firefighters, who already have been cut to 25 from 36, and police officers, down to 18 from 26, said Town Manager Philip Lemnios said.

Budget B involves an override of the default budget, with the extra funds coming from increased real estate taxes. One figure that has been discussed, $2.2 million, would mean that annual taxes on a home assessed at $350,000 would rise about $327 — a significant amount in some already strapped households.

‘‘The Board of Selectmen wants the override,’’ said Lemnios. It would not only keep the library open, but would retain policemen and other important town employees and services. The tax increase would require a townwide vote to override Proposition 2Æ, a state law that limits an community’s annual rise in property taxes to 2.5 percent a year, plus revenue from new construction.

At a selectmen’s meeting last Saturday, which drew about 100 people to a small meeting room in the town’s senior center, residents were particularly vocal about the prospect of closing the library.

As the economy slumps, many residents are using the library that much more. Hull library director Daniel Johnson said that circulation is up by 6 percent from July 2007 to July 2008, as people have increasingly borrowed books, CDs, and DVDs that they previously would have purchased. Residents also come to use the Internet and check e-mail, as some people have suspended their Internet service at home in order to make ends meet.

‘‘The recession has brought more people here to work on their resumes, to look for jobs in the newspaper or online, and to have some place to go now that they are out of work,’’ said Johnson, who points out that seniors have long recognized the value of the library for social contact and a sense of community, as well as for its ready supply of books and free programs.