Kanawha County Public Library system board members could reduce services for the St. Albans branch, after library board members passed a budget that includes lower funding from the city of St. Albans.
The roughly $8 million 2016-17 general fund budget, which takes effect July 1, is almost exactly as large as this fiscal year's budget. The new budget also includes what board President Cheryl Crigger Morgan called "modest" pay increases for employees that will add about $47,000 in payroll costs for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
She said the way the pay bumps will be distributed among employees is complex - based on a hopefully more fair system that factors in things like years of service and job duties - and said the library system isn't in a financial position to fully adopt the suggestions of a recent employee compensation study by Charleston-based AlignHR. She said the study will continue to be used as a guide.
Board members approved the budget in a voice vote with no nays heard.
Morgan and Alan Engelbert, the Kanawha library's director, said the city of St. Albans had been providing, before last fiscal year, $97,000 annually to support their local library branch. But she and Engelbert said the city effectively hasn't paid anything this fiscal year; instead, it gave just $24,000, which the system applied toward an unpaid amount in the previous fiscal year.
In March, St. Albans City Council passed a 2016-17 budget of its own that anticipated decreased business and occupation tax revenue and other revenue, plus increased expenses for things like liability insurance, which is expected to jump $75,000. As part of what city Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Pennington called "across the board" cuts, the budgeted amount for the library was lowered to $50,000.
Morgan said that, according to a formula that's part of a 1962 agreement, St. Albans should provide the library about $125,000 next fiscal year.
She directed the board's Public Services Committee Monday to explore how best to reduce services, such as hours, for the St. Albans branch in a way that softens the blow as much as possible. She said the board will have to vote on any service reductions in the future.
"We have made repeated, and I do mean repeated, inquiries and requests," Morgan said. Engelbert and board member Ben Thomas met with St. Albans council members to try to come to a resolution, but they said they didn't reach an agreement.
Morgan said the services reduction wasn't retaliation, but "purely a matter of budget." She said she didn't know how drastic the impact will be, but hopes to have the committee's recommendations for reductions by next month.
She said the St. Albans branch won't completely be without services, and noted the Cross Lanes, Dunbar and Nitro libraries are close by.
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.