No one spoke during a public hearing on the budget, held at the beginning of the meeting.

A draft budget had been presented at the board’s April 16, 2012 meeting. At that time, the budget had been developed with a 1% increase in projected tax revenues. The final budget projects just a 0.4% increase, with an estimated $11.132  million in tax revenues. Other revenues come from library fines and fees, state aid and fines, interest, non-resident fees and grants.

On the expenditure side, the highest category is salaries and wages, at $5.8 million – an increase from $5.67 million this year. Employee benefits are budgeted to increase from $1.476 million this year to $1.565 million in the next fiscal year. In part, that reflects an increase in the amount that AADL must contribute to the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System (MPSERS) – from 24.46% this year to 27.37%. The proposed budget also includes a 3% merit raise pool for employees. In recent years, there has been no allocation for merit pay increases. [.pdf of 2012-13 budget summary]

For the current fiscal year, the library finance staff is projecting a surplus of $292,025.

This brief was filed from the fourth-floor boardroom of the downtown Ann Arbor District Library at 343 S. Fifth Ave. A more detailed report will follow: [link]