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Danvers library director flags possible $500,000 town budget cut; highlights programs, lighting and security upgrades
Summary
The library director told trustees the town may face a roughly $500,000 budget shortfall next year and discussed potential impacts, library programming growth in the children's department, recent lighting and security upgrades, and upcoming events.
The Town of Danvers Library Director told the Board of Trustees on Monday that the town is forecasting as much as a $500,000 budget deficit for next fiscal year and that trustees should be prepared for possible cuts pending the Select Board's March 15 budget review.
"I found out on Tuesday that it looks like the town's gonna have a 500,000 deficit for next year," the director said, noting this year had a larger $2 million deficit. The director said she would not circulate a final library budget until the town budget picture is clearer and emphasized that, if the library must absorb cuts, the materials budget is usually the easiest place to reduce because trustees can supplement materials spending with state aid, trust funds, or Friends of the Library donations.
The director described several operational items that are already complete or in process: the Third Floor lighting work is finished for fixtures the town could retrofit; building-wide lighting work remains and the director said town electrical staff counted lights that are out. "They did all the lights that they could do... it's a much larger project than they were anticipating to fully retrofit all of the lighting," she said.
On security, the director said town IT administers the camera software now housed in the cloud and that the vendor interface has been upgraded to make footage easier to review. The building's alarm and panic-button service recently switched to First Alarm; the director said panic-button batteries were changed within the last six months and some new units were obtained. She also told trustees she is working with a signage company on wayfinding signs for the building to help people identify rooms during an emergency.
The director highlighted growth in children's usage: "2018 for checkout... it was 78,380 checkouts in the children's department in 2018. And in 2024, it was a 13,866," she reported, noting caveats about the pandemic years and the different multi-year comparison. The director also said the Friends group added an oral-history workshop scheduled for February 4 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., limited to 20 people, and praised upcoming programming the Friends are supporting.
The director reported staff absences due to illness and asked patrons to be mindful of health-related cancellations; she also recounted attending a library legislative breakfast where Representative Jennifer Armini discussed level funding for state library lines and noted uncertainty about federal funding that filters to the states.
The director updated trustees on town administration search work: the town had about 20 candidates for town manager and expected to narrow the field by mid-March with an anticipated April start date for any hire, which may follow the library budget cycle.
Trustees did not take any formal vote on the town's budget at the meeting. The director said she will bring a proposed library budget to the trustees once town figures are finalized and the Select Board completes its March review.
