FY2013 Financial Items

Library Financial Statement - November 2012

Jane discussed the Financial Statement of Revenues, Expenditures and Changes in Fund Balance – Actual and Budget for the Year ended November 30, 2012. 

 

Revenues received during this period totaled $8,699,632 and represent 47% of the total revenue budget.  County revenue of $7,684,034 represents 48% of the County revenue budget.  The Library has satisfactorily completed the County’s 2012 Contingency requirements receiving the final payment in December.  Fine revenue totaled $250,523 and represents 36% of its budget.  Other Revenue of $14,329 includes green bin book recycling revenue and non-budgeted revenue received from donations, affiliates and author events.  The green bin book recycling revenue of $7,991 represents 53% of its $15,000 budget.

 

Expenditures for this period totaled $8,071,523 representing 40% of the overall expenditure budget.  Personnel expenditures of $5,608,345 represent 40% of the personnel budget. Budget savings are being realized as the library transitions to the new staffing model.  Material expenditures of $1,679,882 represent 51% of the materials budget. The material encumbrance as of November 30^th was $223,037.  Operations Expenditures totaled $783,296 represent 26% of the operations budget.      

 

The Fund Balance at November 30, 2012 is $7,279,292.  The FY13 beginning fund balance of $6,651,183 is classified as follows:  Committed Funds of $2,246,417 has been approved by the Library Board to provide the resources for the future replacement of library technology infrastructure and vehicles.  Assigned Funds of $1,609,284 provides the resources to balance the FY2013 budget and cover the FY2012 carryover encumbrances.  Unassigned Funds of $2,795,482 represent the contingency reserve of $1,621,465 and remaining funds of $1,174,017.

 

Goodman inquired about why the financial statement showed the Total Operations amount of $2.9M while previous documents showed the approved budget for Total Operations as $2.4M.  Walters explained the financial statement in question is a total picture of all the funds which includes the scheduled replacement funds from the replacement reserve (Expendable Equipment and Capital Outlay).  Goodman requested to have the financial statements presented in a consistent format.  Wagoner asked if the Book Sales line item is the same as the green bin book recycling revenue.  Walters explained the Book Sales line item represents the weeded books online sales.  Goodman inquired about the decrease in Fines revenue.  Walters commented that one reason could be that the Five Forks branch was closed for renovations and perhaps customers did not come to pay fines.  In addition, circulation numbers are down.

 

FY2013 Budget Adjustment- County Revenue

On January 3, 2013, the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners approved the County’s 2013 calendar year budget.  Included in this budget is the $15,118,068 Library subsidy for the 2013 calendar year.  The 2013 subsidy is $1,000,000 less than the prior year subsidy. The Library needs to adjust the budget to the amount it will be receiving from the County for the remaining six months of the fiscal year.  The budget adjustment will be a $500,000 decrease to County Revenue and the Materials budget.  Motion by Goodman to decrease both the County revenue budget and the Materials budget by $500,000, seconded by Oscarson, unanimous.

 

FY2013 Budget Adjustment- LSTA PRIME TIME – Family Reading Time Grant

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia received a federal Library Services and Technology (LSTA) Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).  Georgia Public Library Service was selected to administer the Grant and will reimburse the Gwinnett County Public Library up to $12,000 for actual direct expenses incurred in the implementation of the PRIME TIME Family Reading Time grant at two Library branch locations, Norcross and Lilburn. This series is a reading, discussion and storytelling program based on illustrated children’s books.  PRIME TIME is designed specifically for under-served families with children ages 6-10 to encourage reading, discussion and to aid parents and children in selecting books and becoming active public library users.  The Grant period runs from January 1, 2013 to September 30, 2013.  Goodman asked if the grant would be added to FY2013, Walters confirmed that it would, and will carry forward any remaining funds to FY2014.  Motion by Goodman to record the LSTA PRIME TIME Family Reading Time Grant, increasing Grant Revenue and Operations expenditures $12,000, seconded by Oscarson, unanimous.

 

FY2013 Budget Adjustment- Recording Capital Lease Budget

The Library’s new copier lease agreement (state contract vendor) includes branch, public and staff copiers, public coin and bill acceptors, and HQ copiers.  Financial Accounting Standards recommends the review of leases to determine whether they are considered a capital lease or an operating lease for financial reporting.  It has been determined that this lease is considered a capital lease. The budget entry to record this lease in the year of inception is an entry to expenditures and an offsetting entry to other financing sources – proceeds from lease purchases for $174,515, which is the present value of the future minimum lease payments.  Motion by Goodman to record the budget adjustment for a capital lease, increasing other financing sources and operations expenditures by $174,515, seconded by Skeen, unanimous.

 

Recommendation of Telecommunication Contract

The Library’s current service contract for Primary Rate ISDN Access lines (PRI) will expire June 30, 2013.  The Library has five PRI connections that connect the VOIP lines to outside phone lines.  To be eligible for E-Rate support in FY14, the Library’s specifications for this service were posted on the USAC, School and Libraries Division’s website.  Service providers had a 28-day window to send proposals to the Library to be evaluated.  The Library received three responses.  Staff recommended that the bid be awarded to the lowest bid, Windstream.  The annual contract costs are $19,380 and the contract term is for one year.  Walters stated that the library has to apply for E-rate a year in advance and that the expense will be reflected in the FY2014 budget.   Motion by Skeen to contract PRI service with Windstream starting July 1, 2013, seconded by Goodman, unanimous.

 

Library RFP Process and Recommendation

The Library’s Integrated Library System (ILS) is the lifeline of the Library enabling customers to search the Library catalog and maintain an account where they can place holds and pay their fines.  The ILS is also used to order, acquire, receive, invoice, catalog, circulate, and track materials. The Library’s current ILS, Horizon, was upgraded in 2004 and is scheduled for replacement in fiscal years 2013 and 2014.  The Library issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) in September 2012.  The RFP was divided into two primary parts:  Part A detailed the requirements of an enhanced public discovery catalog; and Part B detailed the Library’s overall need for a fully updated ILS.  The Library received four proposals for a separate Part A and three for Part B.  At this time, the Library will not make a recommendation for Part A due to budgetary restrictions.  For Part B, the Library recommends the highest scoring vendor Polaris Library Systems.  The initial cost of $270,000 will come from the replacement reserve and the annual maintenance cost of $170,000 will start in FY2015, one year after the go live date.  The Library recommends entering into an agreement with Polaris to purchase their ILS system.  Once the implementation process begins, it should take about 12 months until the new system goes live.  Goodman asked questions about the $170,000 annual maintenance agreement.  Walters stated that the term is approximately 3-5 years.  Walters and Michael Casey explained to the library board the differences between Part A and Part B.  Part B is the ILS system, Part A is the discovery layer of the catalog, and it enhances the searching process.  Goodman asked if the new ILS would integrate eBooks from OverDrive into the searching results. Casey responded that at this time ILS vendors and OverDrive do not offer this option. Wagoner asked for confirmation of the annual maintenance agreement.  Walters confirmed the terms to be a commitment of 36 months.  Skeen inquired as to why the ILS needed to be replaced.  Stanbery-Kellam stated that the ten-year-old system is long overdue for an update.  Motion by Goodman to award the ILS RFP to Polaris Library Systems, seconded by Oscarson, unanimous.

 

 2013 Compensation Plan

The County 2013 annual compensation plan does not include compensation increases for county employees for the calendar year.  The Library depends on the County for the majority of its funding, including annual compensation increases.    There will be no increases for Library employees for calendar year 2013.  This includes Pay for Performance; Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA); and Longevity.  Motion by Skeen to adopt the 2013 Library Compensation Plan effective January 1, 2013 which includes: no Pay for Performance, no COLA and no Longevity Pay, seconded by Goodman, unanimous.

                                   

Current Practices

Every year the Board approves the Current Practices (Standard Operating Procedures).  Goodman proposed to change item ‘c’ so that encumbrances are included in the Materials Budget for proposed budget that is submitted to the library board.  Goodman asked that the library board be presented with an estimate of the encumbrances at the Budget Workshop to help make more informed decisions.  Walters added that if an estimate is given, a budget adjustment would be needed when the board votes on the budget at the June 2013 meeting.  In reference to item ’d’, Wagoner asked for an example of when the Executive Director would need to move funds up to $20,000 within the budget object without board approval.  Stanbery-Kellam explained that this might occur when there is a higher unanticipated cost and the money is available in the same budget line. Amended motion by Goodman to reaffirm and approve the Current Practices (standard operating procedures) as adjusted with the encumbrance notification, seconded by Skeen, unanimous.

 

Branch Report- Library Hours

Liz Forster and Barbara Spruill presented the library board with a new buddy branch schedule.   Although the comprehensive review of all library services is still in process, the library has reached a place in the study where they can eliminate 3:00 pm branch closings by adding six hours to each weekly branch schedule.  Days that branches have been closing at 3:00 PM, the closing time will change to 6:00 PM.   This represents a 13.6% increase in access to library services.  The total system open hours will now increase from 660 to 750 hours.  Forster stated that staff expects the hours to continue to shift as the library continue to transition into a different business model.  Goodman asked how many hours are needed to eliminate the use of the buddy system.  Spruill commented that in order for all branches to be the same, the library would need to stay at 50 hours with the current staff.  The buddy branch system is the best option to address having early morning hours and early evening hours.  Stanbery-Kellam added that more staff will be needed to eliminate the buddy branch system.  The library board agreed that the additional open hours is a step in the right direction for customers.  Skeen asked about the ultimate goal for scheduling.  Stanbery-Kellam commented that staff needed to complete the profile study in order to determine out the best use of resources based on branch usage.  It is agreed that the ultimate goal is to tailor services and hours to the communities that the library serves.  Skeen added that she approved of the schedule for now with hopes to move in a better direction.  Wagoner also added that she appreciated the added hours and the consistency among branches.  Oscarson asked if the library would need to add positions for the schedule to work.  Stanbery-Kellam stated that the library would not be adding any positions, just filling vacancies.  Motion by Goodman to approve the adoption of the proposed 50 hour per week, 7 day per week Branch Hours of Operation Schedule to begin early March, 2013, seconded by Skeen, unanimous.

 

2013 Library Goals

Goodman addressed the topic of branch hours of operation.  He wants a consensus that the primary goal for the library for this year is to expand hours going forward.  The newly approved schedule is a start toward achieving that goal.  Goodman added that he would like staff to utilize the data collected from the profile study to help determine scheduling.  Back in May 2012, the library board authorized staff to come up with a more flexible plan for branch hours.  Goodman stated that he believes that with the flexibility of not all the branches having to have the same hours, staff can be utilized more efficiently, and patrons will be served better.  Stanbery-Kellam added that the library staff has collected all the data and started assessing it.  It has been discovered that there is not a great difference in the branches and communities based on the data.

 

Goodman asked how the staff is addressing $1M materials budget cut.  Stanbery-Kellam commented that staff is assessing the spending, looking at what has been spent, and looking at areas that staff can curb at this point in the fiscal year.  Forster added that most of the FY2013 budget is already spent and the staff cannot cut in certain areas.  Stanbery-Kellam stated that the cuts would not be across the board, certain areas will be hit severely because of having to make a $500,000 cut in the second half of the fiscal year and added that customers will notice some decisions being made now.  However, decisions will be more thoughtfully made in the next fiscal year.

 

New Business

Gwinnett County Public Library Endowment Fund Grant

In Atkinson’s absence, Stanbery-Kellam presented the board with a request from The Endowment Committee.  The Gwinnett County Public Library Endowment Fund Committee requested the library board to authorize a $5,000 grant from the Endowment Fund to the newly formed Donor Designated Fund.  The Donor Designated Fund will be held at the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia.  The fund’s mission and bylaws will reflect its singular purpose to generate fundraising income for the sole benefit of the Gwinnett County Public Library Endowment Fund.  The grant will be used by the Donor Designated Fund as seed money for its first event.   The library board as a whole asked that more information be presented at a future meeting.  They requested detailed plans as for how the money will be used.  The grant request was tabled until a Called Meeting at the beginning of the Workshop on February 25, 2013.

 

Motion by Goodman to go into closed session to conduct the Executive Director’s Annual Review, seconded by Skeen, unanimous.

 

Motion by Oscarson at 10:30 PM to come out of closed session, seconded by Skeen, unanimous.

 

Minutes submitted by Shannon Sheffield.