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Finance committee: FY24 closed at 99.4% of local budget; FY25 first quarter tracking as expected
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Summary
Finance staff told trustees the library spent 99.4% of its FY24 local budget ($74.6M), leaving $416,000 unspent; FY25 first-quarter personnel costs are in line with expectations and vacancies remain significant.
The DC Public Library's finance report to trustees said the system closed fiscal year 2024 having spent 99.4% of its local operating budget, $74,600,000, leaving $416,000 unspent. Officials said most unspent funds were obligated but could not be delivered before the Sept. 30 year-end close.
Finance officer Cheryl Pecana reported revenue-generating activity spent about $455,000 of a $500,000 budget in FY24. For FY25, first-quarter personnel (PS) expenditures are tracking close to expectations and are roughly 0.5% behind the same quarter last year; an increase in vacant positions offset the effect of a 3% union cost-of-living adjustment.
Cheryl and staff noted several operational funding points: a nonlapsing collections carryover remains pending mayoral approval (the transcript referenced an unspent collections carryover of about $1,400,000), and the revenue-generating budget was raised to $850,000 for the current year. Under capital, staff said the capital budget is currently overstated by about $27,000,000 due to a General Obligation/ARPA funding swap; they are working to move expenditures to ARPA so the GO bond budget will be corrected.
Vacancies remain material: as of Dec. 31, 64.3 local FTE positions were vacant; 22.5 of those were in active hiring processes. Staff reported no immediate budget pressures but noted nonlapsing authority often takes months to secure from the mayor's office, which complicates spending plans.
The finance committee report concluded with staff indicating the annual comprehensive financial report (ACFR) for FY24 will be released in early February.
