By Darrell Halen 

Supporters of the Pelham Public Library, unhappy that the Budget Committee reduced its funding for this year, will try to put $16,000 back into the library’s budget at the deliberative session of Town Meeting.

Library trustees had asked for $245,308 for 2008. The Budget Committee cut that figure to $216,978 – about what the library’s budget was in 2004 – and 5 percent less than last year.

According to library director Sue Hoadley, about a dozen library supporters -– staff, trustees, Friends of the Library in Pelham and others – attended the Budget Committee’s Jan. 15 reconsideration hearing in hopes of restoring some funding.

But John Lavallee, Budget Committee chairman, said at the meeting that the panel didn’t want to hear anything about the library unless it was new information, according to Hoadley.

As a result of the budget cut, library hours have already been scaled back from 50 hours to 42 hours a week and most full-time salaries were reduced by close to 5 percent.

The Budget Committee had suggested that a 40-hour-a-week adult services position be reduced to 20 hours, said Hoadley.

Lavallee said previously that many town departments took a hit in their new budgets and that Hoadley can “make it work” with less money. Many taxpayers are angry about higher property tax bills they received last month and are facing expensive proposals on the ballot in March, including a new high school and new fire station, he said.

Hoadley said library supporters at the deliberative session will ask that $16,000 be added to the town’s budget to bring the library’s funding to $232,978.

That money will allow the library to return to 50 hours, restore pay for full-time workers and provide them with a 3 percent cost of living adjustment and raise pay for part-time workers.

“It’s a small amount of money, but it will make a world of difference for the library,” Hoadley said.

The town budget can be changed at the deliberative session as long as a majority of voters present support it. The session begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 5, at Pelham Elementary School.

Voters will accept or reject the budget when they go to the polls in March. If they reject it, a default budget – the previous year’s budget with certain adjustments – would go into effect. That would mean the library would be at its 2007 spending level.