The Alice B. Donahue Library board is asking the town to up its yearly contribution by nearly 20 per cent in their 2018 budget, in order to cover increased building costs coming from the Multiplex society.
Library board chair Lori Barr appeared before Town of Athabasca council during their Jan. 9 meeting alongside library board trustee Kathleen Doerkson to present the library’s budget.
Barr said the budget has largely remained the same compared to last year, except for their request of the town.
“The biggest difference as you can see is the amount we’re asking from the town, and basically that’s to cover the projected increase that we are foreseeing to the Multiplex,” she said
In 2017, the library received $59,800 from the town. This year, the board is requesting $70,265.
The library building is leased under the Athabasca Regional Multiplex Society (ARMS), and in 2017 the library dished out $12,533 for “building costs” to the Multiplex.
This year, the budget is projecting a near double increase for building Multiplex building costs, to $22,000, or a $750 per month increase. Utilities, maintenance and janitorial services are covered under the Multiplex costs.
Last March, the library board came before town council requesting assistance, after ARMS said they would be facing a near $900 per month rent increase.
The proposed lease increase came out of a review requested by the library of services provided by the Multiplex, in an effort to potentially plan for a new library building.
“When they came back and looked at everything they said, ‘well actually, the running cost is a lot more expensive than what we’ve been charging you,’” Doerkson said.
She added the extra amount mostly worked out to maintenance and cleaning costs. The library investigated other avenues for cleaning services to reduce costs, but “it didn’t really turn out.”
“We decided to accept the fact that this is how much we’re going to pay,” Doerkson said. She added the lease would be increased to essentially achieve cost recovery.
In the Oct. 10 edition of the Athabasca Advocate, it was reported ARMS had reversed their decision to up the library’s rent. In fact, Doerkson said the society had just decided to hold off on imposing the rent hike.
The increase will take effect once the new lease is signed, which Doerkson said she expects to happen in January or February.
Barr said the library’s expenditures would also increase in 2018, due to a wage increase of two per cent.
The library board projected Athabasca County’s grant would go up by $1,500 to $64,640, but Barr said they are not in on those negotiations and “they don’t have a say.”
The library board is projecting a balanced 2018 budget, with a total revenue of $167,155.
Coun. David Pacholok asked why the town is getting “the brunt” of the increase request, and if Athabasca County would also be approached.
Barr said the board does not feel they can approach county council and ask for an increase, because it is up to the Athabasca County Library Board to allocate funding.
“If we had to, we’d have to look at something like that. But we came here first,” she added.
Mayor Colleen Powell, referring to information attached in council’s agenda package, noted the number of cardholders to the library in 2015 was 1,711.
“You find one other group in this town that has that number of people involved,” she said.
Coun. Tannia Cherniwchan said the library is running on a “shoe-string budget,” and it is difficult with the amount of programming they attempt to do.
“It is a really difficult road for them to go, and they really need the support from us to carry on with the work they are doing,” she said. “We need to think about that in order to preserve the library.”
Later in the meeting, Coun. John Traynor made a motion to defer the issue to budget deliberations, which passed unanimously.
Barr said in an interview the library works with a pretty tight budget.
“Other than (wages), everything else we try and keep things as cheap as possible,” she said. “That’s why this Multiplex raise was so significant for us, because we don’t have a big budget so to make a $900 per month increase was huge for us.”
