The Bloomington Library Board approved a $12.4 million budget for fiscal year (FY) 2024 at its meeting on Tuesday evening. The Library’s fiscal year runs from May 1 to April 30. The board passes its budget early so the proposed budget can be included in their levy request.
Most of the library’s funding comes from property taxes. In FY 2024 the library expects to receive a total of $6.45 million from property taxes, $5.36 million of which will be used for operations while $1.09 million will go towards the expansion now under construction. The library will also receive $4.97 million in state grants for the expansion. As it is in most budgets the largest operating expense the library has is salaries which require $2.68 million.
Cities 92.9 asked Library Director, Jeanne Hamilton, how they make their income forecasts and she replied, “So we work with the county for that. The county provides estimated Equalized Asset Evaluations (EVA). And the last five years what we have done is we have aimed for a flat tax rate. But the way the levy works is you levy for a set dollar amount. You’re hoping that the tax rate then winds up being that or approximately that amount (the amount budgeted).”
The salary expenditures are not directly tied to inflation and therefore not as difficult to forecast. The library has a union and they just agreed to a new three year contract that went into effect on May 1st.
