Members of the Falls Church Library Board of Trustees will take more time to review staff budget proposals before they go to the city manager and City Council this year.
The process will take place in two steps, library leaders said at the board’s Aug. 20 meeting.
In December, library director Megan Dotzler will outline general budget needs and pressure points for the fiscal year that begins the following July.
In late January or early February, after Dotzler has a better idea of how much money will be allocated to library operations, she will present a more detailed budget package to members of the advisory panel.
Having the two-stage process will assist in making more informed recommendations to city officials, Library Board member Robert Leopold said.
“I would personally feel more comfortable blessing the budget if I actually had time, we had time, to think about what it is we’re doing in it, rather than have it as a fait accompli,” he said.
With more information, “we could be better advocates,” Leopold said.
That worked for Dotzler, who was appointed library director last year after service in the Arlington library system.
“For me, the value of the trustees is to advocate, and also to check my work and advise,” she said.
Dotzler and members of the advisory panel informally agreed to move forward with the plan.
“We can do it this year and see how it works,” Library Board chair Elise Stein said.
Falls Church spends about $2.74 million a year on library operations, with 23 full-time-equivalent positions augmented by temporary personnel.
In the most technical sense, the annual budget submission for library services to the City Council comes not from Dotzler, but from the Library Board of Trustees itself.
According to the board’s bylaws, based on language in Code of Virginia:
“The board shall prepare annually, with the advice and assistance of the director of the library and pursuant to the call for estimates and other guidance from the city manager, the board’s estimates for funds required for sufficient support of the public library.”
As City Council member Marybeth Connelly noted, the situation is similar to that of the School Board, which formally presents its budget request to the City Council, but bases its submission on work done by the superintendent and staff.
Members of the advisory panel seemed receptive to the prospect of more directly lobbying City Council members about the library’s needs.
Connelly, who serves as the Council’s liaison to the library board, noted past advocacy efforts. Previous trustees successfully advocated for enhanced library facilities and longer service hours, she said.
The city operates a single library facility, the Mary Riley Styles Public Library. Opened in 1957, it underwent an 18-month renovation and expansion in 2020-21.
The expansion project, completed by BKV Group, brought the total facility size to about 25,700 square feet and tripled the amount of space devoted to youth services and holdings.
