Lundgren Library Trustees Warn Level Funding Would Cost Full State Aid

Library · Meeting of March 11, 2026

Newbury's Lundgren Library trustees heard a warning that level funding for the next fiscal year could strip the library of full state aid status. Library Director Haley Hart told the board at the March 11 meeting that a flat town appropriation, combined with a union-related staff cost increase and a fee hike from the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium, would prevent the library from directing the state-required 19 percent of its operating budget to collections — the threshold for full state aid. Hart said the library spent roughly 15 years on waivers before finally achieving full certification, and that returning to waiver status would reduce both direct state aid dollars and eligibility for government grants.

No budget decision has been communicated to the library since its packet was submitted in December. Hart also reported the library's patron counter has died and will need to be replaced, and that three staff members won Massachusetts Library System conference scholarships for the spring.

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Source: the Library meeting of March 11, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.