By Andy Brophy

WESTPORT–Town funding of the Westport Library – as a percentage of the library’s overall budget – is declining, while use of the library has “grown sharply,” according to documents briefly reviewed by a Board of Finance sub-committee Tuesday afternoon.

The town funded 76.3 percent of the library’s $8 million budget in the current fiscal year, compared to 77.6 percent of the library’s $7.65 million budget in 2025-26, according to Westport Library Association and town budget documents.

Meanwhile, library contributions grew 10.9 percent – from $1.7 million in 2025-26 to $1.9 million this fiscal year – while the town appropriation grew 3.2 percent – from $5.9 million to $6.1 million.

“In dollars the two increases are similar – $186,070 from Library contributions and $190,064 from the Town,” an executive summary from the Westport Library Association says.

By comparison, library contributions grew by only 4 percent from 2024-25 to 2025-26, while the town appropriation grew by 6.6 percent in that time period.

“Dollars in general seem to be moving in the right direction,” Rich Hightower, chairman of the Board of Finance’s Audit Sub-Committee said during the sub-committee’s roughly 30-minute Zoom meeting.

But Hightower said while “library-sourced revenue is improving as a percentage of the mix,” he questioned what would happen, and what risk the town faced, if that library-sourced revenue dried up.

Meanwhile, annual visits to Westport Library have increased 68 percent, or 162,973, since fiscal year 2021-22. And program attendance by children 5 years old and younger increased 202 percent over four years, while teen program attendance increased more than 500 percent over that time period.

The library’s budget appears to have four categories – core library services, community education, cultural enrichment and experimental or strategic initiatives, according to Hightower. He questioned if a proper mix of town vs. private funding should be determined for each category.

Also included in documents given to the sub-committee was the library’s three-year capital plan, totaling $1.28 million from the current fiscal year of 2026-27 through 2028-29.

The biggest-ticket items in the capital plan are $250,000 for furniture replacement and redesign in 2026-27; and $165,000 for interior painting and $109,000 for carpeting in both 2027-28 and 2028-29. The current fiscal year has the highest overall expenditure in the three-year capital plan at $613,180. The next two fiscal years have a total of $321,400 and $345,900, respectively.

And a $200,000 gift from Rob Haroun, who served on a building committee for the library, was noted in the documents but is restricted to landscaping, which included a new irrigation system, masonry work and plumbing connections at the library.

So far, $91,592 of Haroun’s gift has been spent on design, installation and maintenance, with $108,408 committed to future garden maintenance.

Haroun’s gift is not included in the library’s operating budget and the “remaining balance is restricted by the donor and is committed to the continued maintenance of the garden,” Westport Library Association documents say.

Documents reviewed Tuesday included favorable comparisons between the Westport Library and libraries in demographically-similar towns of Darien, New Canaan, Ridgefield and Wilton.

For example, in 2024-25, Westport Library answered the most reference questions in its peer group; had the highest program attendance; and had the second-highest book circulation (behind Darien). Westport Library also spent less of its budget on staffing than its peers, according to documents reviewed by the Board of Finance sub-committee.

But Hightower wasn’t sure how much could be learned from those comparisons.

“At the end of the day, the Westport Library is not like other libraries. It’s a library plus, plus, plus. It’s an amazing thing,” he said. “It’s a complex institution as the materials would suggest.”

The sub-committee lacked a quorum at its Tuesday meeting and could only have a discussion and not vote.

Meanwhile, the sub-committee expects an external audit of the town’s 2025-26 budget to be in draft form by mid-November. Final field work by the external auditors is expected to take place on Oct. 5 and Oct. 26.

The audit is being done by CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA,) which has offices in Shelton and Bloomfield.

Andy Brophy

Andy Brophy is an experienced Fairfield County journalist. Andy was a staff writer at The Connecticut Post for 10 years. He also wrote for the Norwalk Hour, Fairfield Minuteman, Fairfield Patch and weekly newspapers in Westport, Fairfield and Norwalk. When not reporting, Andy enjoys playing chess and listening to pianist Art Tatum. ^_.