HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-19-2025 BLT Meeting - Public Comment by Jim Mosher
May 19, 2025, BLT Agenda Item Comments
These comments on Newport Beach Board of Library Trustees agenda items are submitted by:
Jim Mosher ( ),
Item No. 2. Minutes of the April 21, 2025 Board of Library Trustees
Meeting
The draft minutes appear to have been carefully reviewed. I noticed no obvious errors.
Item No. 3. Patron Comments
This may be more something for the City Arts Commission to consider (given their mandate to
“actively encourage programs for the cultural enrichment of the community”), but regarding
Comment No. 2 about museum passes, it is a little surprising the response does not mention
the passes available through the Discover & Go program offered by the Orange County Public
Library.
Is there any possibility access to that or similar programs could be offered to NBPL patrons
without the need to apply for a separate library card?
It also seems worth noting that NBPL 8 appears to prohibit the display or distribution of passes
or promotions from cultural institutions, which seems contrary to NBPL’s vision of itself as “the
cultural, educational and informational heart of Newport Beach.”
Item No. 6. Fiscal Year 2025-26 Library Services Budget
Attachment A to the staff report appears to provide a high-level consolidation of information
gleaned from the City’s full proposed Budget Detail for Fiscal Year 2025-26, which has been
posted for a couple of weeks.
In that full detail, under the “Library and Cultural Arts” tab starting on page 1481 of the 277-page
PDF, the Trustees can find the proposed expenditure limits broken out into the Library’s
administrative functions, technical processing and the four branches (including Central), as well
as the separate “Cultural and Arts” and “Literacy Services” budgets (plus accounts for funds
received from the Friends, Foundation and Ackerman Trust).
Library-related information is also reported in the “Revenue” and “Expenditure” summaries
earlier in the book (starting on pages 28 and 45 of the PDF).
Of particular interest may be the statement of accomplishments for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 and
goals for Fiscal Year 2025-2026 found on page 149 of the PDF (printed page number 142), and
the “Department Performance Measures” found on the next page – which consist of a series of
metrics to be used in gauging the department’s success in meeting its goals.
I do not recall the BLT participating in the selection of these goals or metrics.
As to the numbers, the proposed “Library Budget Total” $10,161,042 on handwritten page 15 of
the agenda packet is $334,168 less than the $10,495,210 reported on pages 46 and 161 of the
1 Printed page numbers are 7 less than PDF page numbers.
May 19, 2025, BLT agenda item comments - Jim Mosher Page 2 of 2
Budget Detail PDF. This is due to the separate reporting of the proposed “Cultural and Arts”
budget on handwritten page 16 (which the City budget detail shows is a 31% increase due to
changes to the allocation for the Sculpture Garden). It might be noted that the “Cultural and
Arts” budget does not seem to include the staff hours devoted to the program, which appear to
be charged to the other library accounts (probably under “Library Admin”).
One item of concern to me is that according to the high level budget summary in the staff report,
the allocation for LIBRARY MATERIALS appears static, with no increase proposed despite likely
increases in material costs due to inflation. This seems a return to a situation which the Library
was in for a number of years. The Trustees may wish to ask if material costs are indeed
expected to increase, and if so, why the budget for them is not.