Library bond update, program statistics highlight Laconia budget discussion

City officials and the Laconia City Council discussed the library’s capital bond project and FY26 budget requests during the council’s June budget hearing.

DeAnne Hunter, library director, told the council the total library bond is $360,000 and that the city has completed “a little over a hundred and $15,000” in work so far, with “work in progress” totaling “a little over a hundred and $1,000.” Hunter said the majority of the bond funds are being used on the building envelope — roofing and masonry — and that remaining funds will go toward additional masonry repairs, interior tower work, exterior window trim, painting and resealing of the building apron.

The bond funds are being applied to capital reinvestment in the asset rather than to what Hunter called deferred maintenance; she reminded the council the library underwent an addition and renovation completed in 2005 and noted the slate roof has required about $200,000 in small repairs to date.

Library staff also reviewed service statistics and four operating lines that drove FY26 requests. The library reported about 108,899 visits to date this fiscal year and 93,551 circulations year-to-date; teen summer reading totals exceeded 1,200 reading hours, and the library delivered roughly 200 outreach deliveries to homebound patrons this year (up from prior years). Hunter highlighted that program attendance has exceeded 6,200 for the year and read aloud a comment from a second grader: “Thank you for making programs free because my family is a hard having a hard time making money work out.”

On the FY26 operating side, Hunter identified four accounts with sizable changes: electricity (line 202-0000), library supplies (2140001), maintenance equipment (2330000) and maintenance software (2350002). She said the light/power line is up about 11.4 percent “simply due to the increased cost of electricity.” The maintenance software line includes several recurring licensing fees (Pharonix for public Internet security, Meraki firewall licensing, Constant Contact, Envisionware for public printing, PassPerfect for the historical society database, and Microsoft licensing). The book budget was noted to be up about 1.5 percent.

Council members pressed for trend data to put the year-to-date statistics in context. Councilor [unnamed meeting chair] asked the library to provide historical data from the past two fiscal years so councilors can determine whether visits, circulation and program attendance represent a trend. Hunter agreed to provide that data within about a week.

Councilor Soucy raised the possibility of outreach via a bookmobile, saying she “wanna bring up something that I brought up last year” and urged staff to look for opportunities—through surplus vehicles or state surplus properties—to operate a mobile outreach vehicle for parks and schools. Hunter and the council thanked the library trustees and staff for services including a recent expansion of legal research resources: Joan Moriarty, library trustee, said the library has Westlaw access provided by the New Hampshire Law Library.

The council’s discussion clarified that a noted increase in the department’s outside contracts line (483040000) reflected a reclassification of the janitorial fee from maintenance to contracts, not a new expense. The council did not take any binding action on the library budget during the presentation; members requested supplemental historical usage data and additional detail on specific lines.

The council then moved on to the next agenda items.