Thursday’s regular business meeting for the Community Library Network (CLN) found trustees in agreement on budgetary decisions, including a solid consensus to increase staff pay without burdening the public with a 3% tax increase. To do so requires cuts from other areas of the budget.
“To bring wages up to mid market value takes more money than you may think”, Trustee Vanessa Robinson shared. “There are over 100 employees and all locations are open 6-7 days a week. This adds up to a significant amount. The only line items big enough to take a cut, to pay for the wage hike, are material selection and programming.” Robinson believes no one, including trustees, staff and the public, wants to see the cuts happen, but as a conservative she would only support a 1.5% or less tax increase.
Trustee Tim Plass agrees, “It’s not the taxpayer’s fault that the library’s growth of services and programming has come at the expense of staff salaries”. Plass ran his campaign on “Remove, Restore, Restrain” and the Restrain part includes zero tax increase. He would have liked to have seen a balanced budget option with a 1% tax decrease, however conceded that now was not the right time.
This budget cycle has been an interesting exercise for both new and old trustees. It is very uncommon for directors to present non-balanced budget options for consideration. It is also virtually unheard of for CLN to balance a budget without taking a full 3% tax increase.
Former CLN trustee, Glen Seely, is pleased to see a more fiscally conservative approach. During his 5 year tenure, the board was only presented with balanced budgets that incorporated a full 3% hike. Seely can not recall a year that CLN didn’t draw more funds from property owners. John Hartung, who led CLN as director for decades, was able to get unchecked growth year after year. “It was always 4-1 against my vote to not increase taxes”, Seely stated.
Chair Rachelle Ottosen says her top priority to balance the budget without increasing taxes lies in removing things that are not the proper role of the library. “The board only sets the budget for programs, they do not select the programs, that is the staff’s role.” The trustees can not “cut” a specific program but they can set a limit around how much money is appropriated under that budget category. Any program changes would be made by the staff.
The board has received emails regarding the budget process, as well as public comment during the meeting. Those expressing views to increase taxes are displeased with changes to any programming or services, unchecked growth is acceptable. Eccles informed the board that 32 emails favored increasing taxes, while 16 opposed. It remains a mystery why anyone believes a majority email campaign should hold any sway. The community stated quite clearly that they support conservative fiscal principles. In May’s election, 14,376 votes were garnered by Tom Hanley and Tim Plass netted 13,804. This board is poised to take care of both the library staff and the public by increasing staff wages while keeping property taxes at current levels and maintaining comprehensive programming and services. Sounds like a historical and positive scenario for both CLN and the community overall.
The board’s final budget meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 25th. Due to unsanctioned action by their director, Alexa Eccles, who engaged yet another law firm, the trustees have added an agenda item to Tuesday’s meeting where they will review issues surrounding legal counsel.
