“We have been overwhelmed with success,” Library Director Mary Wilson told the Finance Committee at its Tuesday meeting. Wilson was presenting the library’s fiscal year 2009 budget request of $565,715, a 10 percent increase over the current year’s budget voted at Town Meeting last March. According to Wilson, the major driver of the increase is personnel.
Because the new library has proven to be enormously popular with after-school students, with as many as 87 students counted on one early-release day, library monitors are need to help with the influx. The cost of monitors in next year’s budget request is $3,198.
Wilson said that professional staffing levels built into the fiscal 2009 budget are identical to those in fiscal 2008; however, as a result of the new “paid time off” personnel policy voted at last fall’s Special Town Meeting, she is requesting $20,800 as backfill for employees whose vacation, sick, and personal time has to be “used or lost.”
“In the past,” she said, “they haven’t taken the time.” This resulted in the accumulation of 1,167 hours of unused time upon implementation of the new policy.
Finance Committee Chairwoman Debbie Ricci asked if the library uses volunteers, to which Wilson replied that although volunteers have been used in the past, they are not being used at present.
According to Town Administrator Tim Bragan, under the complex new policy, all town employees are capped at 320 accumulated hours of unused time. He wouldn’t comment on whether he agreed with the library’s $20,800 figure.
“It’s the first time we have seen these numbers,” he said.
The other area of significant increase to the library budget is tied directly to the overall budget. For purposes of certification, the public library is required to spend at least 16 percent of its overall budget on books, audio-visual supplies, periodicals, and any other items that are loaned to the public.
Committee member George McKenna asked about plans to generate revenue through use of the library space.
“That is a policy decision that should be made by the trustees,” answered Wilson, referring to the Bromfield Trust, from which the library leases the building, and the Library Trust.
Pete Jackson, a library and Bromfield trustee, said that the use is meant to be educational or cultural only, and that they are filling up Volunteers Hall pretty quickly. He suggested that they might charge for janitorial services or general wear and tear, but not to make a profit.
“We are thinking of the library as a place that is free for everybody,” added library trustee Ginger Kendall.
