INFORMATION #2 10-21-2002Memo from
Date:
To:
RE:
October 10, 2002
City Administrators & Library Board of Trustees
Great River Regional Library Budget Cuts
OCT 1 !
2002
Most of you have heard or read about GRRL budget cuts for 2003.
press release that we sent out is attached.
Please let me know if you have questions or concerns.
A copy of the
. ..Pegionol
Ubr~ry
Budget Crunch Fact Sheet
Great River Regional Library, October 2002
At its meeting on October 8, the GRRL Board of Trustees approved measures to be taken for finan-
cial year 2003 to bring GRRL expenses within the adjusted budget. The budget has been adjusted
because GRRL will have less revenue and greater expenses than anticipated. · GRRL will receive less aid from the State of Minnesota.
· GRRL will have larger expenses than anticipated because of increased property and health
insurance costs.
The GRRL approved 2003 budget already includes the use of $100,000 from cash reserves. The
additional budget shortfall because of the above factors is estimated to be $53,500. At this time,
that means a total shortfall of $153,500. There may be additional revenue shortfalls and/or cost
increases that we will know about later this year.
The measures approved by the Board to meet this budget challenge were proposed by the adminis-
tration after information gathering with staff. They are:
1) Close all GRRL libraries on Thursday, December 26 and Friday, December 27, 2002. (The pay-
roll for these days is met from the 2003 budget.) Close Friday, November 28 and Saturday,
November 29, 2003. Estimated savings: $53,500. On days when the library is closed, all services
of GRRL will be unavailable, including the library's web site and online catalog. All staff will lose
their wages for the hours that they would normally be scheduled to work those days. Staff will not
be allowed to take those days as vacation days, and they will not be allowed to reschedule their
hours. In this way, staff and library patrons will share the consequences of this budget crunch.
2) Do not increase the materials budget above the 2002 amount as planned. Estimated savings:
$8,444.
3) Establish a fundraising team. This team will attempt to raise enough money that it will not be nec-
essary to implement all or some of the above measures.
GRRL has no plans to close buildings and no plans to lay off staff.
10/02