A recent Daily Item (Lynn) reported that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) met with Saugus town officials in January. The town moderator was reported to have said that the essence of the meeting was the town has until December 2007 to get its financial house in order or face the possibility that a state control board would take over. The town is facing a deficit of $2-$3 million. The newspaper reported that a DOR representative made a number of suggestions to move toward resolution of the serious financial issues facing the town. One suggestion was to close the public library. Library Director, Mary Rose Quinn, is working with the town to pass an override in May to increase revenue to avoid such a drastic action.
The library recently launched a new web site with features to inform residents about the library: http://www.noblenet.org/saugus/. Each visitor sees a rotating "Did you know …?" message when they log on, e.g., "Did you know...that the Saugus Public Library will not be eligible to receive State Aid if it reduces its hours, cuts its book budget any further or is closed all together?" An online calculator allows patrons to view a personalized value of library services to demonstrate how much library services are worth in the retail market place.
