Town Budget Review Ups Library Reimbursements by $62K

The Memorial Library will be paying back more to the town, along with speeding up pay back of past capital expenditures by the town.

The library board agreed at last week's meeting to payback $25,000 to the town early on past capital expenditure, along with increasing reimbursements by $62,450 for such items as insurance and pension costs. The costs come as the Town Council's finance committee is conducting a line by line review of each department's operating budget.

Library Director Philip Israel explained to the board that the town is currently reviewing the items, including the areas where the library reimburses the town for certain services. During this review, the town discovered the library was reimbursing for less than the town was spending.

"If we go through each department line by line there can be some savings to the town," Councilman/Library Trustee Keith Loughlin said.

The town's review will increase the library reimbursement for the Joint Insurance Fund from $17,500 to $38,685 and the costs for pensions from $52,000 to $97,885. The costs from telephone services will increase from $5,000 to $7,000. The review also showed the library was reimbursing too much for worker's compensation costs and the line item will go down from $11,800 to $5,180. The total reimbursement will increase by $62,450.

In addition, the library will be increasing payback of past capital projects to the town by $25,000 for the current fiscal year. This was done at the request of the town due to the current budget shortfall facing the local government.

Westfield's state aid was been decreased by Gov. Chris Christie in the amount of and other revenues have declined. The Council has already ordered a hiring freeze in town and the Council has warned that a cut in personnel and services is likely as a result of the current budget.

The line item budget review by the finance committee was greeted with support from members of the library board.

"I think it is a positive how the town is looking at this level of detail," Library Trustee Pam Wiaczek said.