SPRINGDALE -- Members of the City Council asked Monday night why the city's library hasn't opened since closing in the spring to prevent the spread of the covid-19.
Councilwoman Amelia Williams said she was reluctant to grant the library its full budget request for 2021.
The council met Monday in its third and final meeting as the Finance Committee to hear requests from the directors of the city's departments. Mayor Doug Sprouse has presented the council with a $56,463,695 operating budget for 2021.
The library's requested budget was $2,438,860. The 2020 budget was $2,436,940, with projection for the library's expenditures coming in $225,000 under budget at year end.
Sprouse said decisions on opening the library ultimately are his, but he tended to leave the decisions about opening of the city's departments to the department heads. Librarian Marcia Ransom makes decisions with the help of a library foundation board.
The board is projected to add $2.4 million to the library's operating budget in 2021.
"If they don't believe it's safe right now, I defer to them," Sprouse said.
"If the schools are open, then the library should be open," Williams said.
"I think it really should be a priority," Councilwoman Kathy Jaycox said. "Some of these kids have no internet. Some have no family support."
Councilman Jeff Watson said the library's status was an issue with Sprouse and his staff, not a budget issue.
Williams suggested the city pro-rate salaries after eight or nine months of not being open, which would be a budget issue, she said.
"That's not eight or nine months of not working," Sprouse countered.
Ransom told the council Dec. 2 library staff answered 4,000 calls for assistance in November. Despite being closed, the library is staffed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday.
Ransom couldn't be reached for comment Monday night.
"I just don't like using the budget as a hammer," Sprouse said.
"She's made the adjustments to her budget that she needed to make," he continued. "That's why her expenses are way down.
"And she's really upped her game online."
When Ransom presented her department's budget to the council, she noted her staff has moved a children's story hour, its young adult programs and adult programs to an online forum.
The budget request for audiovisual material was increased $30,000 from 2020, from $60,000 to $90,000.
The library's budget also listed 11 open positions with salaries ranging from $42,000 for a children's librarian to $14,000 for part-time clerks. Ransom said she listed the positions in the budget as if they were filled, totaling roughly $200,000.
The council's approval of the budget is listed on the agenda of tonight's meeting. That item could be tabled if the council decides to delay a vote until its Dec. 22 meeting, Watson said.
Sprouse said hoped the council would approve a budget Tuesday. "It's always good to get it behind you."
But he wants to get any questions council members might have answered. He said it's not unusual for the council to call department heads back to another budget meeting.
"But don't take more time on something you're not going to change anyway," Sprouse told council.
Councilman Mike Lawson said Monday night he'd like the opportunity to take a "good hard look" at the budget and vote Dec. 22.
The budget process is late this year, Sprouse said. Covid-19, the addition of Bethel Heights, merging the capital improvements fund with the operating budget, the financial services staff moving to new offices the week after Thanksgiving -- all made the budget process slower than usual, he said.
State law requires the mayor to present a proposed budget for the next year by Dec. 1 -- which Sprouse did, said Wyman Morgan, the city's director of finance and administration.
The law says the council must adopt a budget by Feb. 1.
If a budget isn't adopted by Jan. 1, the council must pass a special appropriation measure allowing the city to spend money until a budget is adopted.
Laurinda Joenks can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWALaurinda.