Council continues to set budget targets for Newton library

Newton Public Library has a new budget target for next fiscal year that was set by city council members on Oct. 24. The library’s board of trustees will only have $686,039 for general fund expenditures, not including donations, in fiscal year 2024. The council still encourages the board to maintain sustainable budgeting.

For the past few years, the board of trustees have been given a budget target by city council. The FY24 budget target is more than last year’s target, which was set at $669,306. In recent years, the library has been forced to make budget cuts, primarily in terms on “salary and non-salary expenditures,” the city has said.

Although there was resistance from the board of trustees, they eventually made changes to the library’s budget while also maintaining council’s wishes for the library to do more or the same with less, in terms of services. Board members will begin budgeting later this month and submit a draft in December.

Newton Library Director Nicole Terry said the new budget target — which has increased by more than 2 percent from the previous fiscal year — can be met. Even though it is not in line with inflation, Terry is confident her board can achieve the budget target and will not cut library programming.

“No services will be decreased,” she said. “If anything, a few items may go up.”

In response to the city’s requested budget cuts from 2020, Terry said the library has restructured its staffing and duties and made cuts to line budget items. The library lost a full-time assistant director and split a position into two part-time roles. Part-time wages were also frozen until a new pay plan was made.

Full-time staff also saw their wages frozen and even took pay cuts. Terry said council had really pinpointed the salaries and made the library re-evaluate those wage scales. The board of trustees is still looking at pay plans going forward and seeing what other libraries are offering.

Even with the budget cuts, the library is still improving its offerings to patrons. Terry commended public service librarian Becca Klein’s efforts to make craft kits and mystery bags and youth services library Phyllis Peter’s collaborations with daycares, schools and the city’s community services department.

Extra part-time staff has alleviated full-timers from having to “wear many, many hats in a day.” Terry said they have more time off desk to now focus on programming and outreach for the library. For instance, she can now spend her time on searching for a new integrated library system.

“We just took a look at what we had and what we could do with more staff time and less funding, whether it was doing more programs in-house than contracting with outside speakers to come in,” Terry said. “Again, restructuring that staff to get some of our full-time staff off the info desk so we can focus on programming.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com