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Dear Library Champion,
Creating your library’s annual budget is an important part of operating procedures. When presenting a budget to your local council, it is important to show your library is being fiscally responsible with local funding and aware of how to use that funding to best serve your community.
When getting ready to create an annual operating budget, library boards and administrators should work together. Under Sections 21 and 27 of the Public Libraries Act, the appointed library board has control over library funds, and Manitoba Public Libraries Governance at a Glance states that library board has the responsibility of supervising the library’s finances. The library administrator is traditionally placed in charge of applying the budget in the daily operations of the library, and presenting updated reports to the board at regular meetings.
The operating budget should be created from an existing chart of accounts and resulting financial statements. Your budget should be detailed enough to show how funds will be spent, but not so detailed that funds are tied to projects or accounts that may make it difficult to transfer funds later, if required. A detailed budget can also create accountability on how funds are being spent and allocated. Keeping track of how funds are used, and budget lines that are routinely under or over spent on, can help in the creation of future budgets. Consider working with your local council to create reserve funds for unplanned shortfalls, or larger projects.
The library administrator should create the draft budget document, which will then be presented to the board for discussion, potential changes, and finalization, prior to presentation to local council(s). As laid out in the Public Libraries Act, your library board must present it’s annual budget to council on or before January 15th of each year.
If your library is requesting an increase in library funding, prepare a presentation or information packet to accompany the budget document. This will help demonstrate how your library will use the funds in a fiscally responsible way to be a greater benefit to the community it serves. The document should outline how much of an increase your are requesting, and justification for that amount. If possible, break down where the increase will be applied to help justification, and give local government options if the entire increase is not possible.
Creating your library’s annual operating budget should be a well thought out process, done in cooperation with the library board, administrator and staff, with planned presentations to council. It should align with the vision the library board has and what the board wants to see the library accomplish in the coming year.
Additional Resources
Developing the Library Budget
Making Budget Presentations
Budget Planning for the Public Library Director
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