Niles Library Board sets budget for coming year, but previous cuts force it to scale back
Two years’ worth of intense cost-cutting measures hung over the Niles-Maine District Library’s budgeting process as trustees workshopped and tentatively approved a $7.8 million spending plan for the next year.
Of the total sum, $6.6 million will go toward operations, trustees and library staff said.
“We’ve got two years of lower levies that we’re going to have to contend with and we’re going to have to figure out how to deal with those numbers,” Trustee Umair Qadeer said after he suggested a series of cuts to the library staff’s original proposal.
The previous library board slashed the institution’s tax levy to $5 million, a 15% reduction from $5.89 million it had levied in 2021.
The drop in the levy was the centerpiece of a battery of changes the preceding board implemented. That board also deferred maintenance on the building’s roof, eliminated more routine cleaning services, reduced library hours and implemented a 19-month hiring freeze to reduce immediate operating costs, among other reductions.
Although the group of trustees who pushed those changes through no longer have a majority on the board, the impact of their financial decisions informed much of the meeting to determine the latest budget.
Trustee Carolyn Drblik, who was president of the board for the 2021-2023 term and oversaw the hiring freeze, said library staff accounted for about two-thirds of the institution’s budget and called for the library to reevaluate the way it scheduled its staff.
She also requested that the library defer $54,000 worth of furniture costs and strike $780 worth of external human resources consulting from the tentative spending plan.
The $54,000 for furniture remained in the tentative budget after trustees took a vote, although they agreed to cut $570,000 for parking lot upgrades and other outdoor projects, $22,000 for a proposed digital sign, $70,000 in building repairs that would be rolled in with the roof replacement and $90,000 for upgrades to the library’s “makerspace.”
The final item was a suggestion from Secretary Patti Rozanski, who made clear that she wanted to see the proposed changes happen but was worried about funding them through the library’s current resources.
“I love makerspace, don’t get me wrong,” she said. “I think what they proposed is great; I’m just asking that we delay it for a year. Because by then hopefully our levies, our budget will be able to accommodate the (cost).”
Trustees voted to add an additional $9,000 to fund a strategic planning process and $20,000 dedicated to the search and hire process for a new executive director. Current Director Cyndi Rademacher is set to step down Aug. 16.
“We’re going to need to dip into our general fund reserves for $1,441,339,” Board Vice President Jason Trunco said after the board had taken a series of votes on what to keep and what to cut from the plan library staff had presented.
The tentative budget is currently available for public inspection on the library’s website. A public hearing on the plan is set for Sept. 13, per the tentative budget ordinance.
