Montville — The Raymond Library is short on cash, and its board of directors is asking the town for an extra $65,000 to bring it back into the black.

Several large construction projects have depleted the library's resources, which it supplements with fundraising and town appropriations, according to Ray Coggeshall, a member of the library's board of directors.

The small library on Raymond Hill Road is privately owned, founded by in 1884 as a result of a bequest of $10,000 from Albert C. Raymond. As the only library in Montville, it receives money from the town in each year's budget in addition to its endowment and money raised by the nonprofit Friends of the Raymond Library.

In recent years, that Town Council and mayor have allocated about $40,000 to the library.

This year, Coggeshall said, the board of directors is requesting an additional $65,000 to meet operating costs.

"The Raymond Library has been drawing from its principal accounts to pay for all the capital improvements as well as day-to-day operational expenses such as staff payroll, books (and supplies)," he told the three members of the council's finance committee at a meeting last week.

The library's directors had asked for $48,000 in their budget request to Mayor Ronald McDaniel, who reduced the amount in his version of the budget to $45,000.

Since then, Coggeshall said, the directors have reviewed an audit of the library's finances and found that projects like a new well and an expansion to the parking lot have "drained our financial resources."

"It is expected that at this rate, the Raymond Library will deplete their investments and be forced to close," he told the committee's members.

The library also needs a new roof and heating oil tank, as well as an upgrade to the bathroom to make it handicap-accessible.

Even if the Town Council doesn't award the full $110,000 request, Coggeshall said after last week's meeting that the board will take whatever it can get.

"We just need it so we're not running in the red," he said. "I'm just trying to keep us from going to a point where we're in trouble."

Finance committee chairman Chuck Longton said the committee has not yet decided whether to grant the board's request.

The Town Council's finance committee will continue to deliberate on the budget next week and is scheduled to make a recommendation to the Town Council by the end of May.

m.shanahan@theday.com