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Home My WebLink About1995-08-18 MinutesSPECIAL MEETING FAYETTEVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES BUDGET -APPROVAL SESSION August 18, 1995 Attending: Mark Burdette, Carol Phillips, Steve Singleton, Michael Thomas, trustees; Linda Harrison, Fayetteville library director; Karen Duree, Ozarks Regional Library director; June Jefferson, staff. President Thomas called the meeting to order. Harrison said she was presenting two budgets to the board. She said similarities occurred with each budget presented. Actual income and actual expenses were reflected in the 1994 columns, she told the board. The budgeted 1995 column represents what the library requested at this point last year, she said. The estimated 1995 column represents budget revisions made in April when the library re -opened on Saturday and is the current budget, she said. Budgeted 1996 is what the library is asking for, she told the board. The only difference between the first and second budget, she said, is that the first budget takes into account the library's present operating schedule, with the lack of Monday and Wednesday evening hours. The second budget includes the restoration of those hours. Both include Saturday operating hours, she said. On Budget 1, the city target figure is $344,900, Harrison said, and she added that the Washington County item is accurate. Duree agreed that the figure accurately reflected the county's contribution to library funding. Both concurred that the Quorum Court had not voted on the matter and that they were unsure what impact reappraisal had had on the matter. Singleton asked what the board was being asked to approve. He indicated that he wanted the city council, which has the final say, to choose between the budgets. Harrison called his attention to the target override page of the budget packet, which explains why the library is asking for an $18,885 override. These forms go to Steve Davis, budget office, and Kevin Crosson, public works director, at the city, she said. If the board would like for her to send the budget request forms to city council members, she will, Harrison said, because city council members do not see the forms that Davis and Crosson see. Phillips said she thought the council members should have a copy. Harrison said she knew in 1994 that the city council would not be aware of the documentation she submitted with the budget request that would have explained why the extra money was requested. Part of the city staff's job is to eliminate "mountains of paper," she said. Jefferson said there was precedent to send material directly to the city council members. Phillips asked for an explanation of the $18,885 overrun. Thomas indicated that city officials didn't support intangible projects in the same way that it supported tangible projects. Singleton suggested that the board was submitting a budget "we feel in our secret hearts we're not gonna get" and leaving it to the city council to mandate what services were available. Burdette said he was inclined to submit a larger number to the council, because the panel would cut whatever budget was submitted. Singleton said the psychology approach would allow the library to submit a larger target budget and perhaps retain what money was actually needed. Duree concurred with Singleton. Burdette said the library really ought to include "everything that we want . . . because they'll cut it back for us." Jefferson noted that the library had cut its budget in the last couple of years. Harrison said many of the budget items could be increased. Paper costs have increased, Duree noted. Singleton asked about increasing hours as a way of marking a tangible increase in services. Jefferson noted that the level of staffing would have to be increased if hours were increased. Phillips asked if the library would have to cut back on hours again if the overrun budget is not funded. Harrison said that if the library does not get a penny more than the target budget, the library would be able to maintain its current schedule with no additions. That would also mean no travel and training, no money for audio-visual materials, she said. Burdette suggested looking at service charges again. Harrison said postage rates might have to be raised again. Harrison and the board also discussed other costs. Burdette asked Harrison to question city officials about depreciation and amortization. With all the discussion of additional items, Phillips said, the library would be increasing its budget request roughly to $682,760. Thomas asked Jefferson if she had considered setting up a reserve fund to cover a situation that occurred in 1994, when several people left the library at the same time and the facility was forced to pay out benefits. The situation left the library in bad financial straits. Jefferson said it was something the library needed to address. The library has had heavy turnover this year because of illness, she said. The city draws from a specific fund in the case of employee loss, she said. Restoration of hours to the schedule, Harrison said, depends on how much of the target overrun is granted by the city council. In discussing its options, the board noted that if the council would grant the additional $7,000 requested, the amount could cover increases in operating expenses, and the library could maintain its present schedule. Only if the full $18,000 -plus target overrun was approved would the board seek to restore the additional four service hours. Phillips made the motion to approve the larger budget for submission to the city. Burdette seconded the motion with an addendum seeking more funds through depreciation and the library's inclusion in the city's sick -leave fund. Upon discussion of the measure and a wish to talk with Steve Davis about depreciation and sick leave payments, Phillips withdrew her motion. Burdette made a motion to submit Budget #2 with six additions and to seek a comment from Davis about sick -leave amortization and depreciation scheduling being added in. If it can't be added, Burdette said, then submit Budget #2 and the six additions. Phillips seconded the motion. The motion was approved. Singleton indicated that he would like to see a cover letter written to the council explaining why more money was needed. Thomas said no motion was needed to include a cover letter with the budget submission and that the overrun was covered in the budget form. Jefferson said materials could be delivered to the city clerk's office to be included in council packets, without action to be taken. Singleton said the board needs to be clear about what the choices are and what the board is asking for. Harrison said she could include explanations of increases in operating expenses. For example, she said, the library now has an overdues program that requires that overdue notices go out first class instead of postcard rate. Phillips suggested striking the sentence about reducing travel and training. Singleton suggested striking the sentence about additional staff and frame it as "staff needed" to restore hours to 1994's level. Harrison also told the board that she and Jefferson had discovered that a section in the budget application that is a program description and totals for personnel, demand workload and results occupies one page in the application, but by the time the city council gets to that page, someone has revised not only the library's narrative, but also the figures that go with it. "It's happened year after year after year," she said. "It's to reflect what they want to show," Jefferson added. "When our narrative says, 'If our budget will be cut, then our library will be closed,' they cut that out." Singleton said that action makes it more imperative that the city council hear directly from the board. Singleton said the board didn't have the option of sending three budgets to the council and having them pick one. In that case, the smallest budget would be selected, Harrison said. Duree said it was not a matter of the council picking one, two, or three but the city staff picking. Thomas said the board needed to get on the council's agenda to explain how the budget came to be presented. Phillips said that the target budget from the city was $353,900, plus the city supplement of $18,885; that was what the board was hoping to obtain for 1996. Thomas said he still worried about what the state's Supreme Court might rule on the constitutionality of cities' levying of sales taxes to meet service requirements. Duree noted that the state of California is eliminating school libraries because the system doesn't have enough money to fund them. Thomas asked Jefferson to let him know the outcome of her conversation with Davis on sick -leave amortization and depreciation of equipment. Thomas thanked the staff for the budget preparation. The meeting was adjourned (Burdette, Phillips). Respectfully submitted by: Susan M. Sissom, staff -30-