From the Desk of the Director
MCPL FY23 Budget Update
On March 15, County Executive Marc Elrich released his recommended Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) Operating Budget of $6.3 billion, which is an increase of 5.7 percent from FY22 approved all funds budget. It is a 7 percent increase for the Montgomery County Government (all funds except for debt service). The section of the operating budget for Public Libraries can be accessed at this link.
The recommended FY23 operating budget for Montgomery County Public Libraries (MCPL) is $45.9 million, with 403.6 FTEs; 79.1% of the budget is allotted to personnel costs. The remaining 20.9% covers collection (materials, both physical and digital) costs and other expenses such as supplies, printing, some program costs, cleaning, moving expenses, etc.
Two enhancements requested by MCPL were funded by the County Executive (CE) – our lapse target was reduced by $1,500,000. This will allow the Department to recruit and hire more staff within the confines of our personnel budget. In addition, the CE approved a $900,000 increase to our collection budget, which will allow us to reduce the wait time for items in our ebook collection. One enhancement was not funded in this FY budget, which was a request for $320,000 to improve the World Language collection, particularly materials in Spanish and Chinese.
Our budget will now be reviewed by Council, and the date for final action on the FY23 amount is June 1, 2022. The schedule for Council Operating Budget Meetings and Committee Worksessions will be available at this link. Libraries fall under the Education and Culture Committee, and the lead for Libraries is Councilmember Will Jawando.
The schedule for public hearings on the budget and the link to testify at the public hearings will be shared shortly.
The Department is very pleased with the funding approved by the CE, and when the full budget allotments throughout the County are considered, we feel that Mr. Elrich showed his regard for the service that MCPL provides to the community. We thank him for his support.
