Southeast Steuben County Library

Like us on Facebook

Informing, Inspiring, Enriching, Amazing - Creating an environment that fosters lifelong learning and community connections

HomeaboutpolicycalendarresearchDepartments
Catalog Circulation Reference Giving news HeritageQuest Children Young Adult Adult Services Learning Express

The Question of Overlap

The Southeast Steuben County Library is working hard to ensure community access to information and to recreational and educational programming focused on learning, exploring, and the exchange of ideas.  In order to honor the hard work of so many who brought our library back to life, and to protect this vital community resource for generations to come, the Library has sought out stable funding that is predictable and reliable.  The mechanism to do that under the New York Education Law (Section 259) is to ask the voters of the Corning-Painted Post Area School District to approve a tax levy to directly support Library operations.

Under the proposal being placed before voters this fall, homeowners in the Corning-Painted Post School District would pay about $0.38 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. This would mean that the owner of a home valued at $85,000 would pay about $32 a year, and the owner of a home valued at $100,000 would pay about $38 a year.

While the Library levy is a good solution for funding the Southeast Steuben County Library, some people have expressed concern over what’s being called the “overlap” issue.  Of the 15,001 taxable properties located in the Corning-Painted Post Area School District, approximately 763 are also served (and taxed) by the Chemung County Library District.  This unfortunate circumstance is the result of the spread of the CPP School District into some parts of Chemung County in conjunction with the limitations built into New York’s library laws which were first written late in the 19th Century.  Education Law Section 259, which permits library taxes to be levied by a school district, provides that the tax shall be levied and collected as the school district generally does.  According to the New York Real Property Tax Law (Section 1308), school district taxes must be levied upon “all real property within the boundaries of the district which is not by law exempt from such taxation.” There are no exceptions in the law for properties caught in the overlap, and a school district has no power to make its own exceptions.

The Library does not take this situation lightly, but it has no power to change these laws.  The Library certainly opens its doors to Chemung County residents every day, and that would not change.  The Library appreciates all the support shown by our municipal partners over many years, understands the importance of being a steward of public investment, and pledges itself to providing value to every resident for years to come.  

Sign up for our Newsletter

Search our Website

Hours

Monday 9-6 pm
Tuesday 9-8 pm
Wednesday 9-6 pm
Thursday 9-8 pm
Friday 9-6 pm
Saturday 10-4 pm
Sunday Closed

Your Books

Renew Books

Our Blogs

The Friends of the Library

Music, Movies, Audio books, Ebooks

Learn a new language

Cyber and Tech

Free Friday Films:

June 5
50/50

Doors open at 6:45 pm

More Movies

QR Code

Scan & never miss another library event.

Search for an item in libraries near you:

Donate