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The Derry Town Council moved the $1.92 million Taylor Library expansion project off the Capital Improvement Plan list for the coming year. The Londonderry School Board is talking about postponing renovations to the School Administrative Unit office and holding off on constructing a Performing Arts Center. In both cases, the economy, and tighter budgets this year and in the foreseeable future, led to the shifts. That, and at least the mention of cooperation and consolidation. For Derry, that means more cooperative efforts between the town’s two libraries, the Derry Public Library downtown and the clearly overcrowded Taylor Library in East Derry. How that cooperation will shake out remains to be seen, as does the fund-raising effort to expand the heavily used Taylor Library. No one’s particularly happy with the postponement of construction, but no one’s happy with the rising costs of insurance, retirement funding, and take-for-granted things like asphalt, either. Similar considerations surfaced last week in Londonderry, as preliminary talks began about the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The renovations and/or construction of the district office had been slated for fiscal year 2011. While the CIP committee doesn’t meet to rate projects until mid-August, several school board members advocating moving the project a few years ahead. The same fate seems to await the performing arts center, currently scheduled for construction in fiscal 2013 for $12 million. The Londonderry Town Council and school board are also in the midst of discussions about potential areas of consolidation, all in the interest of saving taxpayer money. Could the two entities merge their offices? Could a stage in the high school gym solve part of the need for a performing arts center? Those are the kinds of questions our elected officials should be asking these days, and we’re glad to see it happening. Consolidation of library services into one building in Derry is likely not the practical or logical answer. Merging SAU and town offices in Londonderry may not be realistic. But holding off on major building projects makes sense, at least until a time when escalating fuel costs settle down, and taxpayers figure out how to pay their mortgages, fill their gas tanks, and still feed their kids. These days, most of us are not making plans to add on a room or redesign our kitchen. Instead, we’re lucky if we can buy school clothes for the kids and still manage a trip to the beach. It’s time to sit back and assess what we really need, both in home budgets, and - no time like the present - in our towns and schools. We hope to see these conversations continue in the weeks and months ahead. _________________
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