FAYETTEVILLE -- The library won't have to drastically cut its programs and services and can start to replenish materials, personnel vacancies and reserve funds next year because of the voter-approved millage increase.
The library Board of Trustees on Monday saw for the first time the proposed $5 million operating budget for 2017. Voters in August approved raising the library's 1-mill city property tax by 1.5 mills for maintenance and operations.
Total budget cuts per year
2013 — $18,425
2014 — $313,128
2015 — $345,860
2016 — $194,654
Source: Fayetteville Public Library
Voters also approved imposing temporarily 1.2 mills to put toward construction of the library's $49 million proposed expansion. The expansion hinges on an Arkansas Supreme Court decision on the sale of the adjacent City Hospital land. The library will expand south if justices rule in the library's favor to allow the $2 million sale from Washington Regional Medical Center. If not, the expansion will go upward on top the library's existing building.
The 2017 budget separates the 1.5 mills for maintenance and operations -- 0.6 mills for the current library and 0.9 mills for the expansion.
The 0.6 mills will generate about $850,000 for next year, according to the proposed budget. Restoring the cuts made since 2013 will take several years.
The 0.9 mills eventually will go toward maintenance of the library's expansion, which tentatively should open in 2021. In the meantime, those funds will go into a long-term reserve, library Executive Director David Johnson said.
The library didn't have enough operating revenue to cover its services for 2013 through 2016, which led to the vote on a millage increase, said Stephen Davis, the library's manager of Accounting and Human Resources.
The biggest cuts went to programs and materials. The library cut its budget for materials, such as books, magazines, DVDs, CDs and all the other things one checks out by $84,500 in 2015. That cut remained for this year's budget.
Expenses for program supplies and performances saw an average reduction of just under $34,000 each year since 2013. Other areas, such as personnel services, saw drastic cuts. The library cut its personnel expenditure by $94,065 in 2015, for example.
"Now that we've got the millage, we can start replacing some of these cuts," Davis said.
The 2017 budget calls for $672,830 put toward materials as opposed to $572,148 for 2016. Its allocation for program supplies, services and speaker fees would go up to $53,900 to expand the True Lit festival and bring public figures and performers.
Also, the hiring freeze will come to an end. The board on Monday rescinded the freeze, which had been instituted since June 2015. The library immediately seeks to fill vacant marketing manager and children's librarian positions and will combine two open positions into one for development and outreach, Johnson said.
"This year there really are no brand spanking new positions," he said. "It's all about filling holes and bringing other people up and adding hours to the current workforce."
The Board of Trustees will vote on the budget next month or December. If the state Supreme Court makes a decision before the end of the year it would only affect the long-term goals of the library's plan, not its operational budget for next year, Board President Hershey Garner said.
NW News on 10/18/2016