Kiryas Joel no longer served by Monroe Library

MONROE-The Monroe Free Library will no longer serve residents of the Village of Kiryas Joel under an agreement that will pay the town of Monroe $150,000 over three years to compensate for lost library taxes. The agreement between the library, Town of Monroe and the Village of Kiryas Joel also means that residents of Kiryas Joel will no longer vote on or pay taxes for the library. "The benefit to KJ is that they get the library charter they have been seeking," said Dennis Harris, president of the Library's Board of Trustees. "But there is significant benefit for our remaining Town of Monroe residents. Our library board can now revisit the issue of our new building, scale it back somewhat, and present it to our voters. "KJ residents, who overwhelmingly voted against our building project, will no longer be able to vote on this project or our future operating budgets, and that gives us a better opportunity to create the library that our residents need and want," Harris added. In late June, voters defeated a propose $12.9 million bond that would have created a joint library and municipal building on town property off Route 208. The townwide vote was 605 for the proposal, 2,336 against. Kiryas Joel residents voted 29 for, 919 against it. Only 18 percent of registered voters went to the polls. The agreement calls for a severance payment of $150,000 to be paid by the village of Kiryas Joel to the town of Monroe to offset library taxes in three installments: $70,000 now; $50,000 on July 1, 2006; and $30,000 on July 1, 2007. The issue of a new library - and town hall - remains, and both the town and library continue to review their options. While the agreement represents about 20 percent of library's operating budget, Monroe Town Supervisor Sandy Leonard, like Harris, said the decision was a good one. "Happy fences make good neighbors," she said.