Board of trustees President Jill Lectka poses for a portrait Tuesday in Hubbard Free Library in Hallowell. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

HALLOWELL — The Hubbard Free Library could come up thousands of dollars short on its budget this year after the library’s addition to the downtown tax sheltering district was put on hold.

An exterior view of the Hubbard Free Library is seen Jan. 16, 2019, in Hallowell. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file

The library was allocated a total of $80,250 in the city’s current budget, with $26,000 of that total coming from the city’s tax increment financing fund — a program that leverages tax revenue from a defined district to fund specific projects within that district. Hallowell’s TIF district covers most of downtown, but does not include the library.

The City Council allocated that $26,000 during the budget process last summer under the assumption that the library would be added to the district this year, City Manager Gary Lamb said. The City Council held a public hearing in December about expanding the district.

Lamb submitted an application to the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development in February to add the library and two other downtown sites to the district.

But about a month after the submission, DECD Development Program Officer Tina Mullins informed Lamb that library services were not an allowable TIF expense under state law and that the plan could not move forward without substantial changes — surprising Lamb and library leadership.

Mullins suggested several workarounds for allocating the $26,000, including Hallowell leasing the building to the library, but Lamb said such an outcome is unlikely in the near future.

“I spoke with (Mullins) once or twice to try and find out some of the things that she needed to find a different way through the library situation,” Lamb said. “I haven’t found that path yet. It seems like the door is closed.”

The $26,000 funding hole led Jill Lectka, the president of the library’s board of trustees to ask the City Council on Monday for at least $15,000 from the city’s already strained general fund to help cover costs. She said she has already been in contact with members of the city’s Finance Committee about increasing next year’s general fund amount for the library.

“The Hubbard created our budget assuming that these funds were forthcoming,” Lectka told council members Monday. “Now, it seems that the TIF funding will not be allowed, and we’re left with a revenue deficit this year.”

The entire budget for the independent nonprofit library is about $164,000, Lectka said, making the $26,000 funding hole about 16% of its budget. The library employs three full-time staff who run year-round programming for all ages and offer thousands of books, extensive Kennebec Journal archives and several computers for public use — some of which could be in jeopardy.

A panoramic interior view of the Hubbard Free Library Tuesday in Hallowell. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Lectka said the library may also need to defer maintenance to next year, which could increase costs in future years, too.

“We are able to absorb the budget cut this year without impacting hours or employee costs,” she said. “But it is likely to impact other parts of our services, like programs, services as well as materials that we purchase.”

Lectka said the library also now has to navigate federal funding cuts to libraries, following President Donald J. Trump’s recent executive order dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an agency that supports libraries, archives and museums across the country.

Hubbard receives resources from the agency through the Maine State Library, including free Wi-Fi, e-books and e-audiobooks, professional development training for library staff, online databases and an interlibrary loan service with more than 250 libraries across the state.

“Our senators, Susan Collins and Angus King, are working strongly to make sure that funding that was allocated by Congress does flow to the Maine State Library and other state libraries across the country, but I see that as a potential, significant potential impact in years to come for libraries,” Lectka said.