Saugus selectmen OK library budget, FinCom declines to vote

SAUGUS – After nearly an hour of debate with the Board of Selectmen Tuesday and another round with the Finance Committee Wednesday, the library budget is still in limbo.Town Manager Andrew Bisignani sought the selectmen’s approval on the budget Tuesday while the Library Board of Trustees courted the Finance Committee Wednesday. Each group had their critics of the new budget and only the selectmen agreed to support it thus far.Board of Library Trustees Chairman Pamela Gill said the trustees never approved the original budget. It was also incorrect, she added, which is what drove the need for a new budget.Critics of the budget complained that the charter disallowed a second budget to be brought forward once one was voted. Several town officials also took issue with the fact that the book account had been depleted in favor of boosting salaries, but Gill cried foul.An opinion from Town Counsel John Vasapolli stated that a second budget could be voted, which convinced Selectman Michael Kelleher to change his vote to one of support.Gill agreed that money had been transferred from the book account to various salaries but that was because the salaries had been under funded.The original budget listed several employees as part time, working only 10 hours when in fact they are now working 20.”It’s not our intent to under fund the book department but we have other avenues to fund books,” she said. “If you don’t move the money we can’t stay open and we won’t meet certification requirements.”The library is required to remain open 50.5 hours per week for recertification. It is also required to spend 13 percent of its budget on new material, but Gill said that could be done with fundraising.The library was decertified last spring when Bisignani zeroed out its budget and then-Library Director Mary Rose Quinn was forced to close its doors.Selectman Peter Rossetti asked Gill if she thought she was micro-managing the budget process by reworking Library Director Ewa Jankowska’s budget, but Gill said they did the budget together.Town Moderator Robert Long also pointed out that, like the School Department, the Library is autonomous and has the right to work its budget as it sees fit without input from the town side of government.However, he cautioned that library officials were going to have to make a tough choice between buying updated materials or being open longer hours.”It’s certainly a question that will be asked at Town Meeting,” he said.Gill argued that the trustees could allocate $3 million for the book budget, but if the library wasn’t open it still wouldn’t reach certification.Horlick said he could not support the budget because he felt the charter clearly stated a new one could not be voted.”We’re setting a bad precedent,” he said, although his colleagues passed the budget 4-1.The trustees did not do as well with the Finance Committee, which declined to vote the budget but will take it up again at a later date.