Library adopts new budget and sets aside $2 million for future use

After a public hearing during which there were no comments, the Belleville Area District Library Board unanimously approved the 2024-25 budget at its regular meeting June 11.
Revenues expected in the new fiscal year, which begins July 1, are $2,734,000 and expenditures are expected to be $2,567,177. The beginning fund balance on July 1 is expected to be $5,598,921 and the year end fund balance next June is estimated as $5,765,744.
Fund balance dollars committed to the following fiscal year are $1,300,000, funds that are restricted because of building contributions are $459,387, and a new category of $2,000,000 is assigned for future capital improvements. Unrestricted fund balance is $2,006,357.
The board also approved the 2023-24 amended budget and the fund balance allocation required by GASB 54.
In other business at the 57-minute meeting, the board:
• Heard a report from Michele Montour on art planned for temporary display in the library. She said the school art is gone because the students and teachers wanted the student art back before the end of school and there is no art on the walls right now. She told of artists she will display until the Belleville Area Council for the Arts Community Art Show winners are chosen. The BACA winners will be displayed until the end of the year and then another artist’s work will be on exhibit in January 2025;
• Discussed a plan to introduce artists and have them speak about their work at ceremonial openings of their exhibits at the library. Montour said people are more likely to buy art if they know something about the artist;
• Heard Library Director Mary Jo Suchy announce that the flagpole light has been replaced, recaulked, and is working. The light has been a problem for years;
• Planned to set a meeting of the Marketing Committee to look into hosting a Friends of Michigan Libraries event. Also a Policy Committee meeting will have a meeting before the next board meeting to discuss what information they have to present;
• Heard Suchy report that the library will have a table out on Saturday, June 22, for Lakefest and will also have a booth once a month at the Monday Farmers Market. Suchy also reported that the power outage on the sunny morning of June 5 was followed by a brownout after that afternoon’s storm. That day the library opened later than usual and closed earlier than usual. Both events caused them to have to manually reboot the HVAC units on the roof and troubleshoot some intermittent internet outages. Also, one light on the first floor has some flickering and may have been damaged by the brownout, she said;
• Learned the last day of school was June 6 and the library is gearing up for the Summer Reading Program. Signups began June 10. Suchy said lots of kids are coming in and checking out their books and the library is as busy as during the school year. The adult summer reading program was to kick off June 15;
• Heard board vice chairman Linda Priest say a lady who is in her 90s in Canton can’t come to that library and is having trouble using the Nook she had been using. Priest said she is trying to help the lady get books through the Canton Library. Priest said she would like to be involved with getting books to those in assisted living and the homebound served by the Belleville Library. She said she has some time to help;
• Heard treasurer Tanya Stoudemire say she may not be able to attend the August meeting because her daughter is going to graduate school in Texas. She said her daughter is an opera singer. She added that her son is a puppeteer; and
• Heard board chairperson Sharon Peters say that the art displays and other activities make the library a big part of the community and bring people into the library so they can see what the library offers.