Saugus board to vote on new library budget

SAUGUS – Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said he would present the Board of Selectmen with yet another version of the library budget during the board’s regular meeting tonight.At least three versions of the library budget have floated around, but the newly appointed Board of Trustees voted its final version Thursday.Library Director Ewa Jankowska said last week that she needed to rework the budget because the salary lines were incorrect.Jankowska submitted a budget to Bisignani for $542,638, knowing that she wasn’t likely to get it. Bisignani issued his own revised budget for $400,000, which Jankowska said she was thrilled with, since she didn’t expect that much.When she looked over the budget though, Jankowska said she noticed Bisignani had changed the salary budget.”It scared me,” she said.She said she sent a memo to Bisignani who, after meeting with her, told her to make the needed revisions and resubmit the budget but just keep the bottom line the same. Which, she said, is exactly what she did.But according to the town’s bylaws, the Board of Trustees must vote the budget as well. The Board of Selectmen must also vote the budget before it goes to the Finance Committee.Bisignani said he plans to submit the new budget to the selectmen because the Finance Committee is slated to take up the library budget Wednesday and he doesn’t want it turned away due to any procedural reasons.The reworked budget shows a slight boost in Jankowska’s salary from $52,800 to $55,875, general assistants went from $34,200 to $43,730 and the book budget was cut from $43,000 to a mere $16,491.Jankowska said she although she will be at Wednesday’s meeting she is leaving the argument for her budget in the manager’s hands.”I think he has our status in heart,” she said. “Now I am quietly waiting to see what will happen next.”