Board & General Administrative
HELEN M. PLUM MEMORIAL LIBRARY
B-3 General Financial Policy
Adopted by the Library Board of Trustees November 10, 2021.
The Library has a Board-approved written Working Budget. This Budget is developed annually as a cooperative process between the Board, the Library Director, and additional staff members with responsibility for budgetary elements. It shall be based on the Strategic Plan of the Library and needs of the community.
The Library shall have a written time line for budget development.
Money in the Special Reserve Fund shall not be used to balance the annual operating Budget, but shall only be spent for special purposes as designated in the plan on file.
The Library maintains adequate records of financial operations in a manner easily understood by the public as well as by the Board of Trustees and Library Director. This record of financial operations is presented at each Board of Trustees monthly meeting and clearly indicates the financial position of the Library. In addition to the general financial position of the Library, this record clearly indicates the current position of each budgetary line item including budgeted amount and monthly and year to date receipts and expenditures.
Library accounting is done on an accrual basis.
Outstanding Checks – Library Issued
When a Library issued check is outstanding for more than six (6) months[1] the Library’s Business Office Manager will notify the payee by first class mail that the check was issued and is still outstanding. The letter will indicate the check number, check date, and the amount of the outstanding check. The payee will have 30 days to claim the outstanding check.
At least once each year, the Business Office Manager will prepare a listing of all checks that have been outstanding for more than six (6) months in which notification was sent to the payee and the check was not claimed. A journal entry will be done to deposit the funds into the Library District’s unclaimed liability account.
Once a year, in September, the Business Office Manager will review the listing of all checks that have been outstanding and deposited into the unclaimed liability account to determine which outstanding checks will be sent (checks dated three (3) years or older) to the State of Illinois, Unclaimed Property Division, per State Statute [765 ILCS 1026/].
Payments by Personal Check to the Library
Payments by personal check will only be accepted from valid Helen Plum Library cardholders in good standing.
[1]The Library accountant reconciles our bank statements on a monthly basis. Concurrent with this reconciliation, outstanding checks should be identified by the accountant and communicated to the Business Office Manager. A charge will be applied to a Library cardholder’s account for a returned personal check equal to the charge the Library is assessed by the bank. This fee will be reviewed periodically by the Business Office Manager. Borrower privileges will be stopped pending receipt of cash payment of outstanding charges.