JOHNSTON -- At the latest in a series of budget hearings, the Town Council last night pored over the library budget and questioned members of the library board of trustees.
As at previous hearings, no formal decisions were made, but council members discussed options for cutting and reshaping the library board's requests.
Library trustee John Florio said the board was hoping for a budget of about $685,000, with $575,000 coming from the town and $110,000 anticipated in state aid. The number represents about a 15-percent increase over last year's budget.
Florio said the library board's original budget proposal had swelled to more than $755,000. But as it became clear that the town would not likely accept such a number, the board whittled away at its figures to arrive at the 15-percent increase.
Last night, the board told the council it had chopped a total of $17,000 from its budget by eliminating a proposed part-time position and scaling back on planned repairs to the library building.
Another $50,000 that had been requested for a modular trailer that would be used to house library materials could be cut if plans for a new library went forward within the next 12 to 15 months, said trustee chairman John Monti.
Councilman Joseph Wells said he was reluctant to add the $50,000 to the library budget anyway, saying that the town would have to pay it each year or else risk losing state library aid. State aid is based in part on the preceding year's budget, and the council worried that fattening the library's budget by $50,000 this year and then shrinking it the next year would skew the state's estimate on how much it should give the town.
"Councilman Wells is absolutely correct," Monti said, adding that if the $50,000 shows up as part of the budget and is later pulled out, state financing will decrease.
Instead, the council suggested that the library board request the money separate from the town budget.
Part of the increase has been earmarked to hire a librarian to manage materials for young adults. Wells asked if that hire was necessary to receive state money.
Monti said he didn't know, but thought that not hiring the librarian might damage the library's relationship with the state.
"Our main concern is that we're not meeting the needs of the town," Monti said. "That's why we need the modular storage and the young adult librarian."
The council said it would take those concerns into consideration.
"I know sometimes we sound heartless by the way we address things," Wells said. But, he added, we want to help.
"It's tight times for everyone."
In other discussion, the council briefly touched on the School Department budget, which has not yet been presented in public. A hearing on that budget is scheduled for next Thursday.
In the meantime, the council agreed to meet on Tuesday at the suggestion of Councilman Earnest Pitochelli to discuss proposed cuts to the budget.
That meeting will be open to the public and is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the Municipal Court.
