Meeting Minutes: Finance and Technology Committee Meeting

Date: Thu, Oct. 17, 2024 Call to Order: 7:00pm

Roll Call: Trustees Hayes and Shaul present with Interim Library Director David Seleb.

Public Comment: None

Review and Approve Finance Minutes Sep 3, 2024: Shaul motioned to approve, Hayes seconded. All voted aye.

New Business: FY 25-26 Budget and Levy Discussion

  1. ’25-‘26 Levy – After a discussion and consideration of
    1. Late timing for developing detailed supporting analysis needed for a levy (per our municipal financial advisor, Jaime Rachlin, levy increases should be determined in July); and
    2. Capacity of the Board given the departure of the Full-Time Director and Full-Time Reference & Circulation Manager (Interim Director in 2022) and extended IGA negotiations with the Village,
      The Finance Committee does not recommend a 20% levy increase at this time. Rather they recommend a lower levy in and around the 5.0% mark. The exact levy amount to be approved by the Library Board.
  2. FY ’25-’26 Budget – The committee reviewed both the 5.0% Budget and the 20.0% budget proposed by former Director Grassi and made line by line adjustments as needed based on FYTD (fiscal year to date) actual revenues and expenses to the 5.0% Budget. Trustee Hayes agreed to enter changes into the spreadsheet and send to the Interim Director.
    The budget categories requiring the largest adjustments are:
    1. Personnel – to fund new roles (Building and Grounds Manager) and backfill currently vacant positions (Library Director and Reference and Circulation Manager).
    2. Technology – to partially fund technology updates such as replacement of 15+ year old laptops and software and cloud-based back up.
    3. Building Maintenance – until a significant capital investment is made to address building wide systems building and grounds costs are expected to outpace inflation. Recent building issues include broken lawn sprinkler system and temperature control issues.
    4. Ebooks – demand continues to outpace expectations with wait times for some titles as long as 8 weeks. Increasing this item will boost patron satisfaction.

Adjournment – Motioned by Shaul and seconded by Hayes at 8:26pm. All voted aye.