The Math Doesn't Add Up @ the Dedham Public Library

Link to December Boston Globe article, "Dedham library spent money it didn’t have".

Excerpt: Dedham’s Library Board of Trustees made an embarrassing confession last week: They never had $40,000 they thought they had to cover the Main Library staying open for 25 Sundays.

The money also was supposed to go toward hiring three library helpers, or pages, and for overtime.

As a result, the Main Library will close Sundays, starting Dec. 19, after being open for eight Sundays this fall. The Main Library already is closed on Saturdays.

(The Endicott Branch library also is closed Sundays, but is open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

“We can’t add or subtract properly; I’m sorry, folks,’’ said board member Mike Chalifoux. “We were looking at money that didn’t exist. It was an error. . . . We thought we had money, and we didn’t.’’

He said the board miscalculated the amount of money it needed to pay for salaries, failing to take into account various pay raises.