General
- Budgets & Finance Chapter, Handbook for Library Trustees of New York State
- Public Library District Toolkit: Strategies to Assure your Library’s Legal and Financial Stability, New York State Library
- Sustainable Funding
- Types of Libraries – A Comparison [NYS Division of Library Development]
- Service Area Maps for the MHLS Region [NYS Division of Library Development]
- Municipal Ballot (Chapter 414)
- Municipal Ballot – How to go about it.
- Inch by Inch, Row by Row: Using the Municipal Ballot Option in Education Law 259(1)(b) to Obtain Sustainable Funding for Your Library [Fourth Edition (2024)]
- School District Ballot (259 vote)
- School District Ballot – How to go about it.
- School District Ballot Toolkit [North Country Library System]
- Property Tax Cap [NYS Office of the State Comptroller]
- Vote Library Toolbox
- Sustainable Funding
- Accounting and Reporting Manual, Office of the State Comptroller
- Local Government Management Guides, Office of the State Comptroller
- Understanding the Budget Process
- The Practice of Internal Controls
- Management’s Responsibility for Internal Controls
- Information Technology Governance
- Investing and Protecting Public Funds
- Property Tax Cap and Tax Cap Compliance, Office of the State Comptroller
- Webinars – MHLS Training on Demand (accessible to MHLS member libraries only)
- Sustainable Funding Series 2025
- Budgeting for the Future of Physical & Digital Collections 2025
- MHLS Trustee Education Series – Intermediate Level
- Financing & Managing Construction Projects | Trustee Handbook Book Club-Dec 2023
- Financial Planning & Budgeting | Trustee Handbook Book Club – June 2023
- Budgets & Finance | Trustee Handbook Book Club – Jan 2022
Audits
- MHLS strongly advises that all libraries have an independent review or audit done annually.
- To search for a CPA in your area go to the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) search page . Libraries should change audit firms every five years.
- For those libraries registered as a charity with the NYS Office of the Attorney General you are subject to the financial reporting rules and financial thresholds found in N.Y. EXC. Law 7A § 172-b For more information see the NYS Office of the Attorney General’s website.
Fundraising
- Friends Groups
- Foundations
- Grants
- Planned Giving & Endowments
- Handbook for Library Trustees of New York State – Finance Chapter – Read the sections Fund Accounting and Investment of Funds