To the Editor:

I want to thank The Newtown Bee for its ongoing support of the C.H. Booth Library. And I want to thank Newtown Legislative Council and especially Newtown’s taxpayers for generously supporting the library through the years.

This past year, the library budget from the town was $1.38M. To support our building, and to provide all the services our residents find valuable — books, digital content, technology, and educational programs — the cost was about $1.63M.

To close that gap, the library raised an additional $250,000 — including through the Turkey Trot 5K running race, help from the incredible Friends of the C.H. Booth Library (the book sale starts today), and other fundraising efforts. So the library and its partners generally provide about 15% (depending on the year) of its own budget.

For next year, the library has been allocated $1.38M — which is flat to this year’s funding. Like everyone else, we are facing challenging cost increases to provide valuable services and maintain our facilities.

As we always do, our dedicated staff, management, and Trustees will work hard to save the town money through finding purchase discounts, circulating materials, and reducing unnecessary expense. We’re proud to serve the town with outstanding resources, we’re proud to do our part to manage that in affordable ways.

Douglas Lord

Director, C.H. Booth Library