The Wareham Free Library may have to rely on a less-than-ideal budget in the coming year.

At the Library Board of Trustees meeting Thursday evening, reference services librarian Deb Rich presented the $210,000 budget figure to the board, emphasizing that Town Administrator Derek Sullivan had “definitively” said that will be the library’s working budget.

However, Rich said, Sullivan has not put the number in writing, so the board is working with his word alone.

Board member Roger Bacchieri said Rich had initially presented Sullivan with three different budgets, all between $230,000 and $245,000, after he refused her ideal budget of $269,245.92.

Rich said she and board member Jim Mendes have been working to create a budget that fits within the $210,000, without giving up the Spinney Branch yet again. Spinney was shuttered in 2014, due to budget cuts, but recently refurbished and reopened.

One of the first options Rich and Mendes discussed was cutting staff hours, because, Rich said, it is the staff that make significant impacts on the library’s budget, not the physical running of Spinney itself, which costs about $30,000 per year. However, Rich nixed that option almost immediately, because the staff “was badly used, and we have just this year gotten back three [more] hours” of library operation time.

She also said the main branch takes a minimum of four people to run, and Spinney only takes two.

“If Derek is determined to cut, he is going to have to make that call himself,” Rich said.

Rich said she looked into what else she could cut, and found that the library is saving $3,000 in data processing fees, due to the fact the library is open for limited hours, and can't circulate as much material. The $3,000, in addition to an extra $20,000 the town alotted the library in the new $210,000 budget, will go into the revolving fund, which allows the library to “just squeak under” the determined budget.

“If we change nothing, absolutely nothing changes, with a $3,000 reduction and the $20,000, we come in at $209,000,” Rich said.

But it is possible Sullivan won’t agree to the budget breakdown, Rich said. She said he only presented her with the number, not the actual breakdown.

Sullivan was not immediately available for comment.

The board also discussed a sustainability plan for the library, in which they announced they planned to hammer out a “survival” budget for the library, as well as an “ideal” budget.