Bedford's public library officials were formally told Tuesday to brace for a cut in funding next year of about 10 percent. The belt-tightening—which had been rumored for months—was confirmed in a short, sober town board work session on next year's budget.

Backing away from one official's early prediction of layoffs and curtailed hours, library officials in Katonah and Bedford Village said Wednesday that it was too early to assess the reduction's potential impact on services.

But in Bedford Hills, director Rhoda Gushue flatly declared the cuts "more than we can handle" and said her library might be forced to close up shop. "My board is extremely concerned," she said, and will meet Tuesday to assess its options going forward.

Each hamlet in Bedford has its own library and budget. For each of the past two years, the town has apportioned $1,394,069 among the Bedford Free Library in Bedford Village, which received $355,396 in 2010; the Bedford Hills Free Library ($401,754); and the Katonah Village Library ($636,919).

Katonah Village Library trustees will meet Monday evening to determine what steps the reduced town contribution will require, said Van Kozelka, the library director. When the town board first announced the funding cuts at Tuesday's meeting, Ed Baum, president of the board of trustees, raised the possibility of reductions in staff and hours of operation. But Kozelka said Katonah's future plans are still far from certain.

In Bedford Village, library director Ann Cloonan said she did not anticipate any cuts in staff or hours. "We're hoping that we're going to maintain everything," she said.

Supervisor Lee Roberts opened the meeting by sketching for library officials what she refers to as the "perfect storm" squeezing the town financially. Rising expenses and diminishing revenue have forced the town to ask department heads to pare their expenses, in separate proposed budgets, by 5, 10 and 15 percent. The board has been meeting since February, trying to find economies.

"We've been slashing everywhere," Councilman Chris Burdick told library officials. "That's the context in which this unhappy meeting takes place."

Roberts noted that the libraries had not been subjected to cutbacks last year, as other town departments had, maintaining the same funding level as 2009. But, she said, "We are just not able to do it anymore."

Cloonan, the Bedford Village director, for her part, said she thinks that's only fair in a tough economy. "It's time," she said, "for libraries to do their share."

Some libraries elsewhere, however, have taken a different tack, opting to create separate taxing districts or making their funding a ballot question. In Lewisboro, for instance, the library board is looking to take its budget out of the town board's hands. The library turned in petitions that would put its proposed $595,540 budget up to a vote of town residents in November. On average, Lewisboro Library officials estimate, the increased funding would cost a homeowner another dollar a week in property taxes while fully funding the library operating budget.

Bedford town board members, who made clear Tuesday that they had no plans to spin off the libraries as independent entities, said the town had dipped into its then-generous surplus last year to maintain funding. That option, they said, was no longer available.

Asked at one point the size of the surplus, Roberts put the total at about $1.5 million but said that money cannot be tapped without risking damage to the town's bond rating.

Councilman Peter Chryssos, the deputy supervisor, said, "We save that reserve for a rainy day—and it's been pouring for the last two years."

The board will meet again in a work session Oct. 14. By law, the town must present a preliminary 2011 budget by Oct. 31.