Financial Bones of the PVFL

The Pleasant Valley Free Library (PVFL) Board of Trustees has for several years divided the handling of its finances into two parts. One reason is that New York State has strict rules for separating capital expenses, such as expansion of the building, from operating expenses, such as salaries; taxes; purchases of supplies, books, and DVDs; minor repairs; utility bills; and so forth. Monies for capital and operating are kept in separate accounts at the bank, not just on paper.  But PVFL has gone farther than required by the State.  We have different Trustees in charge of monitoring each category--the treasurer, currently Kim Brennan, handles the operating budget and signs most checks for expenses, while the deputy treasurer, currently your faithful blogger, keeps track of capital and is available to sign checks when needed.

For obvious reasons (see last sentence of preceding paragraph) this blog has largely been concerned with capital expenses, especially those relating to the building and the fundraising efforts to enable an expansion of the building--remember that you can contribute to the building expansion fund via the Community Foundation. But this post and many to come will be devoted to the other side, operating income and expenses.

Expenses first: Last year PVFL spent about $309 thousand, primarily on salaries and benefits which amount to more than 60% of expenses, while the second highest expense category consists of both print and nonprint purchases of media (books, DVDs, etc.), about 20% of the total. The remaining 20% of expenses includes computers and computer services, utilities, repairs, and supplies.  In 2010 operating expenses are expected to increase by about 3%, mostly because of increases in the salary and benefits lines, some occasioned by keeping a full staff in place for the whole year.

The money that pays the operating expenses comes from a variety of sources.  A surprising amount comes from fines, more than 6% of the total, which is more than double all the income from State and County grants. But almost 90% of all operating income is money that was approved by the vote of residents of Pleasant Valley, which is collected by the Town--hidden in your Town tax bill--and then distributed to the Library.  This method of library funding in New York State is known as Chapter 414.

The current tax bill in Pleasant Valley is due to be paid by February 28.  I am looking at my bill right now, in fact. Almost half of that bill is County tax and almost 20% is support for the Pleasant Valley Fire District.  A third of the total is the Town tax, which includes, but does not break out, the Chapter 414 library funding. The total from all taxpayers of Chapter 414 money is $265,000.  I am not sure how many tax-paying entities there are in Pleasant Valley, but with a population of 10,000 citizens, we might have 2,650 tax bills. If that is about the right figure, then on the average each tax bill might include $100 for the Library.  It is a lot of service for very little money.

There will be more posts on this subject as the year progresses. The main points I want to make in this one are that 90% of the income for the PVFL comes from Chapter 414 funding and that this amounts to perhaps $100 per family per year.