NCC Municipal Budget

Proposed: $131,504

Process: Dept. head and Town Mgr. confer on past year’s expenses and predicted needs for coming year to draw up a proposed budget. That must be approved by the Selectboard, the Budget Committee, and finally the voters at Town Meeting.

What it covers: The municipal budget covers several major areas of expense: personnel, utilities, and supplies. The NCC’s 4 part-time staff members are all town employees, and there is $1550 available for travel and training for that staff. The municipal budget also pays for the utilities (water, sewer, gas, electricity, and phone service). The municipal budget covers supplies ($2500 for such things as book covering materials, date-due labels, paper, cleaning supplies, craft materials, etc…), books ($6,000) and periodicals ($900). Cleaning and IT support also fall under the municipal budget.

The municipal budget basically covers the types of expenses that the town has historically provided for Newport’s public library services.

Who accounts for it: All municipal bills go through the Town Office. Any expense over $100 requires the advanced signature of the Town Manager on a purchase order, which is filed in the Town Office. Most bills that are charged to the NCC’s account are held for approval by the director prior to payment. Each month, the Town Treasurer prepares a report showing how each department stands vis-à-vis its annual budget. The Town Manager emails a copy of the NCC’s budget to the Board of Directors each month, and also explains the report verbally at each board meeting.

NCC Nonprofit Budget

Proposed: $48,326

Process: This year, the Income Development Committee and the executive director went over the expenses for the last 2 years to develop a realistic budget for 2013. This budget was proposed to the BOD in Dec 2012 and approved. In the future, the Finance Committee will probably take the helm in developing the expense side of the nonprofit budget, leaving the IDC to focus on the income side.

What it covers: The NCC as a nonprofit is responsible for paying for two major areas of expense: the building and programming. The mortgage, insurance, maintenance, furnishings, etc... for the NCC are paid for by the nonprofit. This includes expenses like maintenance (elevator, sprinklers, heating/cooling, electrical, floor cleaning, etc…), liability and property insurance, any new furnishings that are needed (book and magazine displays, office furniture, bookcases for the genealogy room, etc…). Programming expenses include all children’s events, concerts, art exhibits, historical events, etc… Additionally, books and periodicals above what can be purchased with the municipal budget and all DVDs are paid for by the nonprofit.

Sources of nonprofit revenue: Annual Campaign, room rental, used book sales, donations (especially for DVDs), Newport book sales, program revenue (selling tickets, selling books at events, etc…)

Who accounts for it: Bills on the nonprofit side are reviewed by the board president or vice president, and paid by the Treasurer. The Treasurer forwards a list of all bills and account information to the board via email each month, and reviews those figures at the monthly board meeting.

In addition to the proposed cash expenses on the nonprofit side, it should be noted that the NCC relies upon in-kind donations worth many thousands of dollars each year. Also, in 2012 the NCC benefitted from more than $65,000 worth of volunteer service.

What this means is that,in 2012 Newport’s taxpayers got more than $254,000 in services for their $128,936 investment.