Library Wants Town Support to Increase to $515K a Year
Library Study Shows Jesup Doesn't Receive Typical Town Support
BAR HARBOR—The Jesup Memorial Library hopes that the town will increase its share of the library’s annual budget to over $515,000. That increase does not have to do with its addition.
The library’s representatives don’t expect this to happen immediately, and they hope to have the amount increased to approximately $380,000 in the next budget cycle.
Library Director Matt Delaney presented a study before the Town Council at its December 19 meeting and said that increasing the town’s support of the library is a conversation that the library wants to have. The $380,000 ask for next year comes to about $3.50 per person increase per month in the median household, he said. Currently, it costs approximately $173 per person to run. The town kicks in $53 per person. Last year, the town budgeted $280,000 for the library. In 2013, it budgeted $17,000.
Council Chair Valerie Peacock was part of the study group organized by the library, which took multiple months to complete. Councilor Kyle Shank said he did some work with it as well. Delaney said that they’ve been working with community members for the last few months to explore the relationship between the town, tax payers, and the library.
The goal, Delaney said, was to gain an in-depth understanding of the library and its financial future while also comparing the library to other libraries it deemed similar.
The town’s increased support of $280,000 in 2023 was 38% of the library’s funding in that year and 1.9% of the town’s budget.
This, Delaney said, is in the lower range compared to other libraries across the state.
According to the study,
“Its staff of 7.8 full-time employees supports 41 open hours per week and a collection of more than 37,000 items, free access to computers, printers, and Wi-Fi, and hundreds of programs and events annually. Thousands of Bar Harbor residents depend on the library and tens of thousands of visitors use its services each year. The depth and breadth of demand for the library’s services has increased and construction has begun on a major expansion, slated to open in 2025.”
The library raised $61,000 in 2013 and will hit $224,000 in donations in 2023, Delaney said.
The study reads, “Going forward, however, the Jesup Board anticipates that balance shifting closer in alignment to statewide trends: seeking half of the Jesup’s operating revenue from municipal support and half from private fundraising and endowment funds.”
Delaney said he hopes the town will pitch in $515,000 annually in the next few years.
When the library achieves $515,000 in municipal support, the impact on the median home would be about $9 a month, he said. He believes the increase will have a maximum return with a minimal impact on taxpayers.
David Woodside, former councilor and member of the library’s study committee, said he knew what it was like to hear a presentation like this and appreciated what the councilors were doing. He said he entered the study group as a skeptic.
“My wife worked there for some twenty years and I’m not sure if that makes me more of a skeptic or less,” he said to chuckles.
“I was something of a convert, I guess,” he said after working through the numbers. “There’s some wonderful things happening there. The town support has never been highly significant.”
He said he came away convinced that if the town can find a way for that support for the library, then it will “pay dividends for years and years.”
Julie Veillieux, also a member of the study committee, read the library’s mission and values. “Our Jesup is so much more than our little town library,” she said. It’s a gathering space and a gem, she said.
Councilor Matthew Hochman talked about stretching out that support a bit more due to all the financial stressors already happening for home owners, such as rising property values; rising water and sewer rates; rising town budgets—of which this request would be a part of; bonds for school construction and to upgrade infrastructure and for the solar project. He also said that he supported the library and the town has never given full support for the library.
“The philanthropic faucet is drying up,” Shank said, and added that it’s important to look at how the town wants to support agencies that don’t have fees, such as the library. He said that is a bigger conversation that the Council needs to have.
The budget process begins in January. The town’s manager and staff create a budget. The council then discusses and reviews that budget. They tweak it and recommend a budget. The Warrant Committee also recommends if a budget should be approved or not. Those recommendations are discussed at the town meeting in June. Voters can amend (or not) the final budget at that meeting.
Last year, the Warrant Committee recommended the Jesup Memorial Library’s service enhancement request of an additional $119,320 on top of its yearly funding not be approved. A split Town Council used ARPA money to fund that request. ARPA funds were part of the March 2021 COVID-19 relief passed by Congress.
FINANCIAL REPORTS
Also at the Town Council meeting, Finance Director Sarah Gilbert presented the financial report for the town. She said there were no unexpected things in it. The town currently has three open positions. Those are in planning, the police department, and public works. This impacts the budget as well.
Unless otherwise specified, all images from library study report.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Check out the library, the addition, and all its programs and ways to donate here.
The Council packet and study can be seen here.