Letter to the Editor: Background and Context for Library's 2011 Budget

With the village 2011 budgeting season well underway, we're pleased to share with all village residents the essential facts and detail behind the library's tax levy for 2011.  

For 2011, the Morton Grove Public Library Board strove to fund each budget line at or as close to the 2010 level as possible.  Some lines increased due to legal or contractual requirements – pensions, utilities, payroll taxes. Where possible, the board directed a switch to less costly providers.  Health insurance is one example – as the library board engaged in a search to find another provider.  This alone resulted in  $59,742 annual savings to the budget.

The primary budget increases include $25,000 for replacement of up to two HVAC units that are aged well beyond their useful life; $16,000 for 25 percent of the cost of replacing the 20-year-old main roof of the building (which means the library will be able to only patch the roof, not replace it); scheduled, necessary upgrades to the computer network and information systems; and the funding of one new full-time reference librarian position – which restores reference professional full-time staffing to its 2005 level.  

So why is the library's levy increase 13.5 percent for 2011?

The answer is that the Morton Grove Public Library operates in a very constrained fiscal landscape that limits both revenue and savings options.

By state statute the Morton Grove Public Library, as an independent government entity of a Home Rule community, must levy to meet its operational expenses. Unlike the Village of Morton Grove government, the library is not allowed by law to issue bonds or have access to additional revenue from fees and taxes like alcoholic beverage tax, amusement tax, tobacco use tax, gas tax, motor vehicle sales tax, parking garage tax, wheel tax, traffic and parking ticket fines, building permits, and the host of other revenue generating fines and fees available to Home Rule municipal governments such as the Village of Morton Grove.

The library is able to raise a small amount of revenue from other sources: interest income, the State of Illinois Per Capita Grant, overdue fines, lost/damaged items charges and the occasional donation by a citizen.  

Unfortunately, these revenues have steadily and substantially declined over the last five years.

The state has not made good on the library's 2010 per capita grant of $26,000 (about 1 percent of the 2010 budget) and there is a very good chance the 2011 grant will not even be paid.  Interest income for the library (which is required to keep its operating reserves in a state fund) has declined from $87,364.96 in 2006 to less than $3,000 in 2010 – a 97 percent drop in income representing substantial funds no longer available to the library. 

In 2005, 18.2 percent of the budget came from non-tax levy sources.  In 2011, with the decline of interest income and the failure of the state to make good on grant funding only 2.1 percent of the budget can be funded by non-tax levy revenue.

In prior years, the library board has also used money from the cash reserve or operating fund to reduce the amount levied.  In 2010, $183,455 was taken out of cash reserves and applied to the budget. For 2011 the amount is $0.  

Why the decline?

Unlike the Village of Morton Grove government, the library cannot delay payment on outstanding debt and our reserve is not sufficient to allow drawdowns to carry over into the next year.   Cook Country controls 98 percent of the library's cash flow, and payment of the levied amount is tied to both the timing of tax bills issued by the county and to the county's issuance of checks.  For the last three years, the county has delayed the second tax bill and has increased the lag time in making payments.  The bulk of 2009's second round payments were received in 2010.

The Morton Grove Public Library must pay its vendors and employees in a timely fashion.  Since the library cannot issue bonds to cover short falls in cash flow and cannot raise any significant funds from other sources of income, the library is required to fund its operations almost fully from the outset of the year via the levy.  Not to do so would require the library to borrow funds – costing taxpayers even more money due to interest payments.

Looking at 2011, the library's aging building and infrastructure means that funds must be available to pay for replacement of major facility systems.  Every major system associated with the building is at the end of its useful life - HVAC, roof, interior finishes, carpet, portions of the network and parking lot to name just a few.  

State statute allowed the library to establish the Special Reserve Fund for Buildings and Grounds, which may only receive unexpended monies at the end of the fiscal year.  

We cannot levy for the Special Reserve Fund. 

As of now, there is just enough in this fund to cover the cost of replacing one major system.  Given the age of all our systems, the board believes it is prudent to be able to fund the replacement of two mayor systems in any fiscal year.  Until the Special Reserve Fund is large enough, the fall-back must be the operating fund.

One final component of our fiscal situation: The library's 2010 expense budget is 2.66 percent less than in 2009. The levy of 2010, which will not be paid until 2011, is an increase of just 1.18 percent. That reduced level of income is what the Library will have to operate on in 2011.  

The coming year will be a year focused on maintaining the services and collection built up over the last half decade to meet patron demand and provide the basic services offered by any public library in this area.

Residents of Morton Grove have come to increasingly depend on the Library for educational, recreational and job related assistance.  

The library constantly faces increasing public demand for services and support. 

The recently conducted Needs Assessment shows that we have half the space, two-thirds the collection, one-third of the public Internet computers and one-fourth of the parking spaces for the population of Morton Grove. 

Yet 6,000 new patrons have joined the library; circulation increases year to year (average of 7.15 percent since 2006); demand for programs continues to grow (39,244 people in 2009, up 5.6 percent from 2008); in 2009 adult patrons used the Internet PC 20,804 times for up to three hours each session; teens come to the library to study; seniors come for programs and fellowship; and the schools, park district, senior center, MEC and the business community engage with the library on new projects to help both individuals and the village community as a whole. 

The role of libraries is changing from the long-outmoded model of "storehouse of books" to a dynamic model of service to the community and access to information using a range of technologies.

We have worked to improve the public's awareness of locally owned businesses.  We work with all the schools - public and private - to enhance our children's opportunities to learn and we are devoted to helping our senior population with computer literacy and engaging events.

The Morton Grove Public Library's vision is "…to meet the needs of its growing and increasingly diverse community by providing services and partnering with other community organizations."

The 2011 budget enables the library to fulfill its mission and maintain the current level of service of the community has come to expect and enjoy from the Morton Grove Public Library.