Lyonel Doherty
Times-Chronicle
Lean times call for a lean budget by the Okanagan Regional Library Board.
How lean? Less than a one per cent increase.
“During these challenging times, the library is minimizing its financial impact with this below-inflation budget change,” the board stated in a press release.
On Nov. 18 the board approved the 2021 budget with a 0.75 per cent increase, recognizing that taxpayers are facing many COVID-19 challenges.
“The library will defer major service changes and shift resources internally for 2021 to maintain service levels.”
The board reported its finances remain in order and that the end of the year will see them in a “financially secure position.”
Revenues are down due to waiving of fines, less patron activity and high COVID-19 related costs.
The library had largely offset these losses by some wage savings from vacancies, not needing to utilize on-call staff, and some layoffs when library branches were forced to close in the spring.
Since late summer, the library has moved to a “browse and borrow” operation.
Due to changes necessary to keep branches open in a safe manner, in-person library visits are down.
The library has capped occupancy for its buildings, suspended most in-branch programs, removed most seating, and removed many public computers and other hands-on technology. Despite this, physical materials’ circulation for October has recovered to over 80 per cent of October 2019 levels, and online resource use and e-materials are significantly above 2019 levels.
In other news, the library has reached an agreement with CUPE for a three-year contract (running to December 2023) which includes a two per cent increase per year.
Negotiations with the Professional Employees Union are scheduled to begin in December.
The board said goodbye and gave thanks to Karla Kozakevich, its current chair. Kozakevich served on the board for the maximum allowed time under the eight-year legislation.
