As a service organization, the library’s biggest expense is personnel: the people who staff the building for 63 hours/7 days a week, buy and process collection materials, provide programs and tech help and generally make the library the wonderful resource it is! Even though the new building could be up to 2.5 times larger than our current space, we should not need more people to staff the library due to its flexible and efficient design.
Because things like insurance and cleaning costs are based on square footage, we do expect those expenses to increase. We also expect increased technology and utility costs, although we’re prioritizing sustainable design features that will be better for the environment and our operating budget over the long term. Based on our most recent projections, we’re expecting an increase of 10-20% in the library’s annual operating budget in the new space.