A group of Kapiti Coasters, outraged the Mayor and councilors have slashed the library budget, are determined to have it reinstated.
Lobby group ‘ROBB’ has been established to fight the council’s decision.
ROBB — Restore Our Book Budget — held its first meeting on 19 August 2019.
The trigger was KCDC cutting the book purchase budget by almost HALF; down from $402,500 to $211,000. Many of the 41,000 library members have expressed how deeply upset and disempowered they feel.
The Chair of ROBB, Mr Christopher Ruthe said: “There is proven community support. Over 80% of Kapiti residents are members of our libraries. That is 41,000 out of 52,000 people. This is the highest membership [per capita] in the whole of NZ. We are all proud of that. Yet this Council has treated the 41,000 with contempt. We have been robbed.”
A spokesperson for ROBB said: “People are upset because there was no consultation. The $402,500 budget was set in the long term plan after consultation as Council is legally required to do. The slashing was done in secret.”
It is seen as the final straw following the forced closure of Waikanae library due to negligent maintenance. The independent Morrison Low Report into that library was scathing in its criticisms of KCDC. The Kapiti News (21 August 2019) in an exposé “Time to demand answers on Library Building Debacle” summarises the Australian report as stating there were “systemic and organizational flaws” along with “a dysfunctional culture within council”.
ROBB believes innocent library members are being made to pay for the Waikanae library building debacle. ROBB says this is unfair and unjust. And worse, it is the readers that are having to pay.
The Chair comments: “The Mayor and Councillors have previously said they are for the health and well being of the community. Yet they cut resources for a most important council facility that achieves this. All the world’s leading neurologists and neuropsychologists agree as to the importance of reading to mental health.” ”
ROBB was seeking to resolve matters by discussion. However it understands that the cut is irreversible with this current Mayor and Councillors.
Faced with the Mayor and Councillors intransigence the only option of registering opposition to the cuts is by petition and leafletting. It seeks:
- Immediate reversal of the recent funding cut
- Proper funding for new library acquisitions.
- A commitment to increase funding levels at least to the equivalent of Wellington within 6 years.
ROBB is hoping more will join the fight to have adequate libraries and is hoping more will join the fight .
To contact, e-mail : robbkapiti2019@gmail.com ; kiwibooks17@gmail.com
C.B. Ruthe, Chair
Great debate ROBB. We want our library back in Waikanae. Have respect!
Dunno, I haven’t felt the need to visit the library for about a decade. I read the worlds news papers daily on line along with a raft of other subjects.
I read when I want to read rain or shine
Any questions I have get and instant answer from Mr Google.
I use my own computer and internet.
I copy my papers on my printer.
I guess its called progress.
There used to be a fairly large number of private paperback libraries and second-hand book shopsaround, but alas they have all gone along with the video libraries and the like.
I’m sure that we will see further belt tightening from the council as they try to worm their way out of the mess they have got the community in.
The council will have all the facts and figures of library usage going as far back to when they lost them. Perhaps it would be helpfull if they frelease the facts sooner rather than later.
I understand the fact that ratepayers are annoyed at not being consulted. But who realistically thinks that Council can pull $192,000 dollars out of the air? I believe the former is a major election issue; the latter is just a group of people who care too much about books (and not enough about asset and infrastructure management).
Now if the people signing this petition have a clear solution for Council such as: “Raise rates 1 extra percent,” or “Cut funding to the Paekakariki sea wall,” that I would actually respect. However, in the absence a proposed solution, this is a pointless petition and if followed by Council will inevitably aggravate other members of the public who care about the current place the money has been devoted.
(Also as a side note, who really is surprised that in compensating for the Waikanae Library failure Council needs to reallocate funding? To be honest, of the entire Waikanae Library fiasco, the fact that Council funded it through library book cuts actually makes sense.)
This entire book cuts issue is just a case of people distracting from the real problem: our elected representatives don’t care what we think, they make decisions without consulting us, and they compensate for their failures in sly underhanded ways hoping we won’t notice.
Thank you for changing the original aims of R.O.B.B. as quoted here and other publications, in the actual petition. Any basic search will reveal last years annual book budget for the Wellington City Council libraries is near $2.5million………….excessive by anyones calculation given that funding supplies 12 Wellington libraries, so no this aim will not be met by Kapiti ratepayers. I saw the R.O.B.B. petition today and noted the wording has been changed to something like – funding at a level per WCC library member ……….a huge difference. Details count! By the way the budget also funds the E-Book library collection renewals, which is a major cost these days.
Just to note – Aim 1, no despite my attempts at having council reverse this decision, this money was used to fund the fit out of the fantastic Pop-Up library in Mahara Place. And Aim 2 – Yes from the beginning, council have publicly said this is a temporary budget reallocation afecting only this years current budget, Kind Regards Jackie