Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library presents 2025 budget, schedules public hearing; North Park renovation to finish by January

Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library officials presented the library system’s proposed 2025 budgets and tax levies to the council and set public-review dates while updating the council on branch renovations.

Laurie Tomlin, director of finance for the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library, told the council the budget forms submitted last week outline the proposed budgets and levies for five library funds. Tomlin said the total estimated budgets for those funds were “approximately $50,000 under the maximum allowed,” and she read a numeric figure that was garbled in the transcript and not clarified. The library will hold a public hearing on the proposed budgets at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, in the Browning Room at EVPL Central; the adoption meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at the same location.

Tomlin said all budget forms were previously reviewed by the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) Southwest representative Robert Norris and that estimated budgets and levies were calculated per the DLGF’s prescribed method. "That is because we use 85% of the net assessed value that was just recently put out by the DLGF in August," Tomlin said, explaining the packet shows tax rates that may look elevated because the library took a conservative approach so later adjustments during certification would not prevent it from levying the amount it intends.

She told the council the three funds eligible for levy taxes should level out when the DLGF finalizes net assessed values later this fall, the debt service fund will remain tax-rate neutral, and the library intends to keep levy rates within allowable limits. "We will also need to make sure that those 2026 repayment amounts do not exceed 15% of our fund balance, which is required by law," Tomlin said.

Branch leaders provided operational context and program updates. Heather O'Grady, a library CEO present at the meeting, said North Park is nearly finished with phase one and will flip to phase two in October so the recently renovated half can open while work continues on the remainder. "We're hoping in October to go from phase 1 to phase 2, and it will be a big flip because we have half of it open right now," O'Grady said. She said the library expects the full project to be complete by January, that there will be a short closure during the flip, and that the meeting room will not be available for early voting during the work.

An unidentified Willard branch speaker said Willard will launch a genealogy program, will post registrations for ghost tours on willardlib.org, and plans repairs at the Willard branch. "So if you have a couple extra $100,000 that you wanna donate to the library, we're open to that as well," the speaker said.

The council had no formal vote during the presentation. Next steps are the scheduled public hearing on Sept. 12 and the adoption meeting on Oct. 10, where the council may take formal action on the levies and budgets.