Pierce County Library System to adopt budget

Published 11:36 am Thursday, December 3, 2009

At the December meeting of the Pierce County Library System’s Board of Trustees the board plans to adopt the 2010 budget.

Communications director Mary Getchell said the board will conduct the second of two public hearing’s on the library system’s budget.

The board is expected to adopt a $28.6 million budget, which addresses a $1.5 million shortfall.

Getchell sated the shortfall is due to library revenues not meeting the costs of maintaining the library and resulting from reduced property assessment values and halted construction, which lessened revenue.

A portion of the shortfall is connected to the trustees voting against overriding the Implicit Price Deflator (IPD) limit during the November meeting. The IPD is the amount of tax revenue from the previous year and the library has the option to increase the levy by 1 percent above last year’s amount.

This year the IPD is less than 1 percent, and if the board decided against raising the levy.

The decision not to increase the levy was made as a way to avoid putting further financial strain on taxpayers, Getchell said.

Among the board’s goals in the 2010 budget is to adhere to promises stemming from a voter-approved levy in 2006, provide current and future services and develop and support technology.