The New Lenox Public Library District has a written budget approved by the Board. This budget is developed annually as a cooperative process between the Board’s finance committee, the Executive Director, and additional staff members with responsibility for budgetary elements. Each year, the Board of Trustees determines if the Library’s revenues are adequate to meet the needs of the community. If the revenues are not adequate to meet the needs of the community, the Board of Trustees takes action to increase the Library’s revenue or to cut expenses.
The New Lenox Public Library District strives to spend a minimum of 12% of its real estate tax income on materials for patrons. Materials include books, audiovisual materials, public use software, periodicals, telecommunication costs for reference services, and fees for online information services. Costs related to the installation and maintenance of a LAN or a shared or standalone bibliographic database is not included.
On a monthly basis, the Executive Director and/or assignees presents written reports on library operations to the Board of Trustees. These reports include such areas as finance, library usage, matters of personnel, programming, facility maintenance, and outreach in addition to any other relevant and pertinent information.
The Library maintains adequate records of library operations in a manner easily understood by the public as well as by the Board of Trustees and Executive Director. This record of library operations is presented at each Board of Trustees monthly meeting and clearly indicates the financial position of the Library. In addition to the general financial position of the Library, this record clearly indicates the current position of each budgetary line item including budgeted amount, receipts, monthly and year to date expenditures, and remaining budget.
Adopted by the Board of Trustees March 12, 2012; Updated April 21, 2014; Updated April 12, 2016; Updated December 11, 2017