Library Funding Resolved

Thursday night the Select Board, Library Trustees, and Finance Committee finally settled the question of how to fund the library for the coming year.

At annual town meeting, the Select Board’s budget proposed to use $6000 from the library’s revolving fund to cover library expenses. Library Trustees objected that they hadn’t been informed of this proposal ahead of time, that it undermined their own budget figures, and that the balance in the revolving fund was not known with certainty. In the interest of expediency, Select Board member (now Chair) Dave DeHerdt proposed that the $6000 be listed as coming from free cash until the Board and Library Trustees could meet to settle the matter.

The matter is now settled. The Library Trustees and Finance Committee determined that the balance of the revolving fund was large enough to cover the $6000, the expenditure was squared with the library’s budget, and the Select Board voted to draw the $6000 from the library revolving fund rather than free cash.

Deherdt explained that the town maintains several revolving funds, into which income from a town department is placed for the use of that department. Dog licensing fees and fines, for instance, are placed in a revolving fund for use by the Animal Control Officer. Finance Committee member Carl Satterfield of the Finance Committee pointed out that expenditures from the revolving funds are not under the control of the individual departments but must be approved by the town.

After the vote, Library Trustee Bonnie Coleman asked that, in the future, the Select Board inform the Trustees of any changes in their proposed budget before town meeting, so the Trustees would not be caught off guard again. Select Board member Doug Field said that he hoped the current board could keep town departments better informed.

David King