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Trustees review 2025 library budget, staff and programming; approve $113.60 fine waiver
Summary
At the February meeting trustees reviewed the adopted 2025 budget of $754,535, staffing and programming details, and approved a motion to waive $113.60 in fines for a deceased patron; trustees were also reminded to complete required state trainings.
During the February meeting the Liberty Lake Library Board of Trustees reviewed the library’s adopted 2025 budget, staffing and program information, approved a fines-waiver request and discussed trustee training requirements.
Library director Jandy (Jenny) presented the adopted 2025 budget totals that the council approved in December 2024: $754,535 in total appropriations, including roughly $400,000 in salaries and wages and about $158,000 in benefits. The board heard line-item details the director said support day-to-day operations: a $66,000 allocation for library books and other materials (up about $11,000 from the prior year), $12,000 for Washington Anytime Library/Libby materials, a new $1,500 line for a “library of things” collection, program-supplies lines (children and adult programming) and a capital line for computers, seating and the two self-check stations.
Jandy told trustees the library’s physical collection stood at about 26,799 volumes (data about a year old), with roughly 77,000 electronic materials, about 100,000 ebooks and about 74,000 audio items available through consortium services. Total checkouts in 2023 were reported at 107,902 and visits at 62,628. Staffing consists of nine positions: two full-time librarians (the director and Mikaela Giddelsmith), two full-time library associates (Georgette and Erin Smith), three library technicians (Rhonda, Jesse and Rebecca) and two part-time clerks (Jill and Adrian). The library receives regular support from the Friends of the Library: Jandy said the Friends provide about $7,000 annually and also partner to secure Spokane Symphony tickets for patrons.
The trustees voted to waive a $113.60 fine for a patron who had died and whose materials are missing or in storage. The director brought the request to the board because fines over the board’s threshold require trustee approval; the waiver motion passed by show of hands with all trustees present voting in favor.
Trustees also discussed training requirements: the director asked trustees to complete the state-mandated Open Public Meetings Act and Public Records Act trainings and to email certificates to the city clerk. The board discussed upcoming work on community-assessment follow-up and plans for trustee training sessions with the state library’s outreach coordinator.
Other operational items Jandy reviewed included circulation processing (in-house processing to reduce delays), consortium participation (CIM consortium and courier service), professional subscriptions and databases added in 2025 (Canopy Streaming and Mango Languages), the priority-based budgeting presentation that staff will review with trustees next month and the library’s inventory and volunteer program.
