The Barrhead Public Library board is doing everything it can to hold the line on rising expenses, but it isn’t enough.
That is what board chair Ruth Bohn and library director Elaine Dickie told councillors during their presentation to both municipal councils during their joint meeting on Nov. 29.
At regular intervals, the Town of Barrhead and County of Barrhead councils meet to discuss programs that the two municipalities run jointly or are of mutual importance.
During one of those joint meetings on Nov. 29, Bohn and Dickie asked for a $0.90 per capita budget increase for 2019, which would set the per capita rate at $18.44.
The town and county representatives agreed to forward the request to their respective councils for further consideration.
Budget numbers
In 2018, the library had expenses totalling $381,479, the largest portion being wages of $256,780.
The proposed 2019 budget for the library includes expenditures of $365,309, with salaries once again being the largest expense at $277,149. That includes a 1.5 per cent cost of living adjustment.
On the revenue side, the library projects to receive $379,231 in 2018 and $390,887 in 2019.
On the bright side, Dickie said the province has decided to use the 2016 census data to calculate the library’s grant. The 2016 data pegs the Town of Barrhead’s population at 4,579 residents and the County of Barrhead at 6,288.
Dickie noted their grant last year was based on pre-2016 census data, so this will help their bottom line.
Other revenue sources are remaining static. For instance, the Barrhead library also receives funding from Pembina Hills Public Schools, as the division houses Barrhead Elementary School (BES) students in the same building as the library.
“For the last three years, the library received about $57,400 from BES, with the majority being for student instruction at about $52,000,” Dickie said.
In 2019, Pembina Hills will contribute an estimated $57,430 — virtually the same amount they have gotten in other years.
“We’ve been meeting with them [BES administration] and they have no interest in increasing that amount.”
Dickie noted they have also met with the Pembina Hills trustees and received the same answer.
“We’ve had a number of meetings with them and they claim their needs have become greater because of types of student needs they are dealing with,” Bohn said.
In an attempt to generate extra money, the board has organized a number of different fundraisers.
Dickie said that in 2017, they raised more than $50,000 from everything from grants, casino funding Scholastic Books and used book sales
As well, for the first time in many years, the library will be boosting membership fees in 2019 from $12 to $15 for adults.
“Alberta is the only province that allows libraries to charge memberships,” she said, noting by raising fees, Barrhead is bucking the provincial trend.
“More and more libraries are deciding to have free memberships. I just hope by (raising our membership fee), even though it is a reasonable amount, that we don’t lose users. We are a busy library,” Dickie noted.
This year the library has 1,484 members, excluding students. The average number of times that a non-student member borrows materials is 33 times.
The library also had 5,508 people participate in one of its in-house programs throughout 2018.
Otherwise, Bohn indicated they had cut costs where they could, even enlisting board members to reshelve books to free up their part-time staff to do other tasks.
