NORWICH – After cutting expenditures by more than $24,000, the Guernsey Memorial Library Board adopted a budget that will decrease the tax levy by 1.79 percent in the next fiscal year.

For 2008/2009, the Guernsey budget totaled $1,042,621. For 2009/2010, the budget has been decreased by $24,787, with 23 out of the 37 expenditure lines showing a decrease. Some expenditures are expected to decrease because of new systems in place. The cost for electricity and natural gas are expected to go down because of the new HVAC system in use at the library, and the telephone expenditure is expected to decrease because of a new agreement with Frontier.

Other expenditures were carefully looked at to determine where possible cuts could be made. Board President Craig Lawson explained that there were some expenditures that could not be cut, like staff salaries, social security, health insurance costs and the expense for buying books. “That’s the reason we’re here,” Lawson said.