Uxbridge library officials propose transfer of $30K to library budget
UXBRIDGE — Library officials have submitted warrant article that proposes transferring $30,000 from the town stabilization fund to the library budget to meet a state Board of Library Commissioners requirement that would ensure continued state aid and full borrowing privileges for town residents.
The Uxbridge Board of Library Trustees submitted the article to Town Manager David Genereux for inclusion on the warrant, which was closed on Friday. The Annual Town Meeting will be held May 9.
According to library officials, the Uxbridge Free Public Library currently meets all of the mandates set forth by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC), including having a library director with a master’s degree in library services; sufficient hours of operation, including night and weekend hours; and expenditures of at least 16 percent of the municipal appropriations requirement on books and materials.
While the local library does meet the 16 percent expenditure requirement, it does not meet the MBLC’s Municipal Appropriation Requirement (MAR) of how much money the town provides its library.
The Municipal Appropriation Requirement mandates a certain level of town support for its library. The state designed the program to encourage municipal financial support of public libraries. Waivers are granted to municipalities that can demonstrate that there are special circumstances in a given fiscal year for not meeting the MAR.
The warrant article before voters in May will ask that $30,000 be transferred from the town stabilization fund to the library’s expense line items, which will restore the library’s budget and allow continued access to state aid and no interruption in library services to town residents.
State aid is available to all municipalities and their libraries that apply and are certified annually by the MBLC as meeting a municipal appropriation requirement and certain minimum standards.
To be certified each fiscal year, a municipality and its library must meet its munici- pal appropriation requirement and the minimum standards of free public library service.
Massachusetts General Law states that a municipality must appropriate a figure of at least the average of the last three years' municipal appropriations to the library for operations, increased by 2.5 percent, in order to be certified for state aid.
This calculated figure is known as the Municipal Appropriation Requirement.
A municipality must meet the MAR or apply for and receive a waiver of the MAR in order to be eligible to be certified for state aide. Uxbridge has applied for the waiver for the past eight years.
At its regular monthly meeting on Feb. 2, the Board of Library Commissioners granted waivers of the fiscal year 2017 municipal appropriation requirement and certified Uxbridge and 28 other communities to receive fiscal 2017 state aid.