Hamilton Public Library Forecasts Budget Surplus, Due to Closures and Secondments – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

September 19, 2020
Few municipal services provide the budget transparency of the Hamilton Public Library, and the Library’s mid-year fiscal update gives us a picture of COVID impacts upon government services.
Overall, the Library expects a end of the year surplus of $879,000. With the reopening of branches, this is likely to be a one-time “surplus” due to increased cleaning and other COVID related costs.
The surplus is primarily driven by position vacancies, operational cost decreases due to COVID closures and reduced hours of operation, and secondments of staff who are ultimately being paid by the Province for work in the Hamilton public health unit COVID response.
While there is an overall surplus, the Library is experiencing some many increased costs and decreases in revenue.
Losses of revenue include:
Increased costs include:
Savings include:
Hamilton City Hall denied requests from The Public Record for public financial ledger information during the summer.