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Fort Vancouver Regional Library District
Board of Trustees

2009 Budget Reductions

News flash: The Board of Trustees approved a 2009 budget Monday afternoon that does not require closure of the mall library in 2009. More details will be posted Wednesday, Nov. 12.

• The library district is facing a budget shortfall of approximately $757,000 in 2009 as a result of drastically reduced new-construction and timber-harvest revenues, plus rising costs.
• The Board of Trustees met Oct. 28 in a special session to discuss budget cutbacks, including layoffs. No decisions were made. The Board will approve the 2009 budget - including cutbacks - at their regular monthly meeting on Monday, November 10 at 2:00 p.m. in Library Hall at the main library located at 1007 E. Mill Plain Blvd. (this is a new location; the meeting previously was scheduled for Ridgefield).
• Additional budget reduction options that are on the table include:
  • Reduced staff hours
  • Reduced library open hours
  • Service reductions or changes, including possibly reducing, eliminating or charging for books by mail and collecting late fines.
• Closure of the mall library has been under consideration in part because of the remodeling the district had understood it would be required to complete, which the district could no longer afford. We have now reached an interim understanding with Westfield management that any remodeling can be deferred. We're negotiating other terms of the lease, which expires in January 2010.
• Library bonds approved by Vancouver voters in 2006 included a modest amount of money for technology improvements at Vancouver Mall Community Library. This money cannot be used to cover remodeling or operational costs at the mall library.
• Bookmobile service was previously listed in discussions about service cutbacks, but after further consideration, bookmobile service elimination is no longer on the table of possible budget cuts.