Library spending reined in

Hamtramck’s Public Library has to reduce its costs in order to avoid eating up its budget surplus.

By Charles Sercombe
For years the Hamtramck Public Library has served as more than a place to borrow books.
The library has been home to after-school programs, summer reading programs, nature shows, movie nights, public presentations, community events and even concerts.
However, that catch-all role may change.
For the past couple of years the library has been in deficit spending, and if it were to continue it would eat up its meager budget surplus within a year.
The library’s finances recently dominated the discussions held by the state-appointed Transition Advisory Board on May 26, which oversees all city financial decisions.
Hamtramck’s library is city-owned but it has a separate budget.
While the TAB had nothing but praise about the library’s multiple services, it said spending needed to be reined in.
Last year the library ran a deficit of $80,000. There is only $60,000 left in the surplus fund.
City Manager Katrina Powell said she had to call a “time out” with the library over its spending.
“We are now going to take over approving every single expenditure that goes on there …,” Powell told the TAB.
She said that despite warnings from City Controller Bhama Cairns, the library continued to spend beyond its budget.
“Bhama talks to them on a regular basis, trying to explain you can’t do this, you’ve got to understand that you don’t have any money. For some reason it’s just not clicking,” Powell told the TAB. “So now we’re going to – I’m going to put my foot down, and we’re going to have a look at the entire operation.”
Former Emergency Manager Cathy Square, who now sits on the TAB, said she tried to tackle the library’s finances but failed to make needed changes.
“I went around and around with them,” she said.
Square recommended hiring a consultant to help analyze the library’s finances.
Library Director Tamara Sochacka, who was not at the TAB meeting, could not be reached for comment.
Square said that because the library serves so many purposes, closing it is not an option – although that would be something her former boss, and former emergency financial manager for Hamtramck, Lou Schimmel, would not hesitate to do.
“My old boss, Lou Schimmel, would say ‘Close the library,’ but I don’t think you can close it. So it might be better to try to get them some professional help,” Square said at the TAB meeting.
Doing that, Square said, would help the library focus on its “core business.”
“Maybe they shouldn’t have a day care center in the library,” Square said. “You know, maybe they shouldn’t have those fancy dinners that they have at the library.”
A month later at the June 23 TAB meeting, City Manager Powell said she is still searching for a consultant for the library but has put the library on a “lockdown” when it comes to spending.
“We’re basically approving every expenditure that they have coming out of there before they ever purchase,” Powell told the TAB.
Square again urged the hiring of a consultant.
“The library needs to continue,” said Square, “and so whatever we need to do to keep the library we need to do it because at this rate they’ll just, you know, keep spending and spending, and end up defunct.”