[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] How does your consortium handle money?

[Lori Bowen Ayre]

Hi Judy,

Another approach (besides what Chris suggested) is to take all the money in
a virtual pot and agree to a standard distribution for the proceeds each
year (or so.)  So regardless of where it came in, each library would know
what percentage of the fines and fees would go into their pot.

Lori

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 9:25 AM, Judy Daniluk <jdaniluk at ntrls.org> wrote:

> How does your consortium handle money, when a patron pays a fine at one
> library but the fine is owed to a different library?
>
> In our North Texas consortium, all the libraries are separate entities, and
> their governing bodies consider it important that each library receive its
> overdue fines and payment for lost items.  Our policy is that patrons can
> pay fines at any library, but the money for circulation fines goes to the
> library that owns the circulating item.  When we set up the consortium, we
> decided that we would transfer money between libraries every three months to
> settle up.
>
> Our process has been to run an Evergreen report showing all the payments
> taken in during the quarter, manually identify the ones where circulation
> fines were paid at libraries other than where the circulating item was
> owned, and total up what each library pays and receives in the quarterly
> settlement. Figuring out the amounts for the quarterly settlement turns out
> to be a time-consuming process for the staff person that does it (me). Then
> we have bookkeeping overhead for invoices and checks to each library.  As
> the number of libraries in the consortium grows, the process is going to get
> worse.
>
> The last two quarters less than 2% of the payments have been involved and
> the total money transferred (for all 14 libraries) has been between $600 and
> $700.  The time involved to figure out the settlement isn't worth it, but
> the local governments aren't likely to back down on the requirement.  Faced
> with budget cuts and staff cuts, I'd love to find a way to eliminate or
> speed up this process.
>
> How have other consortia approached this issue?
>
> Judy Daniluk
>
> Technology Consultant,  North Texas Library Partners
>
> 6320 Southwest Blvd., Suite 101, Fort Worth, TX 76109
>
> jdaniluk at ntrls.org     817-201-6778 (cell)     817-377-4440 (office)
> www.ntrls.org
>
>


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Lori Bowen Ayre // Library Technology Consultant
The Galecia Group // www.galecia.com
(707) 763-6869 // Lori.Ayre at galecia.com

<Lori.Ayre at galecia.com>Specializing in open source ILS solutions, RFID,
filtering,
workflow optimization, and materials handling
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