By Darrell Halen

Trustees have cut back the Pelham Library’s weekly operating hours by eight hours following a cut to the library’s budget in the town’s proposed 2008 operating budget.

The library is now opening at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. on weekdays. And instead of staying open until 8 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, it will remain open until 8 p.m. only on Tuesdays.

The library is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays. The new hours went into effect Jan. 2.

The reduction from 50 hours to 42 hours a week, Library Director Sue Hoadley said, is necessary because the library’s 2007 spending was cut 5 percent in the new budget.

The library’s 2007 budget is $228,756. Trustees asked for $245,308 for 2008. Instead, Hoadley said, the Budget Committee cut that to $216,978.

The reduction puts the library’s spending where it was in 2004.

“They went backwards,” Hoadley said. “We’re now funded at the 2004 level. That’s how far back we’ve gone.”

Committee members suggested that a 40-hour-a-week adult services position be scaled back to 20 hours, she said.

The woman who held the position retired at the end of August. A replacement, Robin Murphy, was hired in November, but she resigned about six weeks later after most full-time salaries were reduced by close to 5 percent.

There are a few opportunities for trustees to get money restored in their 2008 budget. They can ask the Budget Committee to reverse its position during a Tuesday, Jan. 15, budget reconsideration hearing.

If that fails, they can ask voters to restore the money during the town’s Tuesday, Feb. 5, deliberative session.

Should the town’s proposed operating budget be rejected by voters at the polls in March, the town would operate under a default budget and the library’s spending would be at its 2007 level.

In 2007, patrons checked out 83,824 books, videos, magazines and audio books. Circulation has been on the rise: 74,076 in 2006, 69,924 in 2005 and 57,135 in 2004.

“This is a big jump,” Hoadley said. “The numbers keep going up every year, but our staffing has remained the same the last four years.”

John Lavallee, the Budget Committee chairman, said many town departments took a hit in their new budgets.

“She’s very efficient, a very good librarian,” Lavallee said. “She can find a way to make it work. That’s not a  lot of money.”

Many taxpayers are angry about the higher tax bills they received last month, he said, and in March they will face many spending requests, including a proposed new central fire station, high school and police union contract.

“It’s going to be a tough year,” Lavallee said.