Library budget for next fiscal year set at $4.86 million

The West Bloomfield Public Library Board of Trustees approved the library’s budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year at a March 2 meeting.

The board is projecting the library’s revenue to total $4.86 million, which is a decrease of $490,865 from the previous fiscal year.

“This is mostly due to property taxes, which are projected to be down by 10 percent,” said West Bloomfield Library Director Clara Bohrer. “Property taxes account for 90 percent of our revenue.”

Property taxes for the library are expected to total $4.38 million in the 2011-12 fiscal year, a decrease of $486,879 from the previous year.

Bohrer added that the library is projecting no state aid in its budget because of the “volatile nature of what’s going on at the state.”

One positive note about the budget is the rise in revenue from fines, which is projected at $135,000, an increase of $1,500 from last year.

Bohrer also said that the library is expecting a contribution of $25,000 from the Friends of the Library group for materials collections.

Total expenditures for the 2011-12 fiscal year are projected at $4.86 million, a decrease of $501,311 from last year.

“We cut across all our line items including the materials budget, utilities and community promotion,” Bohrer said. “We’re also reducing personnel by dropping one full-time position and reducing one full-time position to part-time.”

The materials budget will see a drop of $74,265, while salaries will be reduced by $47,456 and personnel services will see $57,784 in cuts.

“We have to stay within our budget. We’re trying to maintain our hours of service and keep the materials budget strong. Those are our two priorities,” Bohrer said.

The library’s fiscal year begins on Friday, April 1 and runs until March 31, 2012.