RANDOLPH — Residents are being asked to again vote on a proposed Kimball Library budget, after calculation errors derailed the original proposal at the March Town Meeting.
This time there’s some urgency involved. If voters reject the $491,000 library budget in a June 30 special election — just one day before it would go into effect — the library may not be able to operate as usual starting July 1.
“I’m guessing that that would mean it would be difficult if not impossible for the library to open on that day,” Selectboard Chairman Larry Satcowitz said in a recording of a May 29 meeting when the board unanimously approved the warning for the vote. “We don’t know.”
The proposed budget includes $402,000 to be raised by taxes, which is an 8% tax increase from last year.
This month’s vote comes after voters rejected the originally warned $458,000 budget, with $369,000 from taxes, on Town Meeting Day in March, 507-451.
Ahead of the March vote, the library trustees recommended that voters reject the budget due to errors in calculating it.
The Kimball Library Board of Trustees’ initial proposal, which the Selectboard reviewed in late January, included a 22% increase from the previous year, primarily driven by increases in salaries. The proposal would have required a total of $440,000 to be raised by taxes, a 19% increase.
After a lengthy discussion, the Selectboard opted to reduce the budget proposal to $458,000, an 8% overall increase, citing the needs of town departments that respond to emergencies, such as police.
Library Director Amy Grasmick subsequently noticed that the Selectboard’s version of the budget didn’t account for a staff member’s increase of hours, and included a $50,000 pledge from the trustees based on the initially requested increase in staff salaries.
The errors were not corrected ahead of a Feb. 2 deadline to reword ballot measures due to complications in the Selectboard’s schedules, board member Stephanie Tyler said at the time.
After the March 3 rejection, the town had about four months to get a new budget approved by voters ahead of the fiscal year starting July 1. Due to scheduling complications and procedural necessities, such as warning the meeting no less than 30 days ahead of time, it came down to the wire, with the vote scheduled for June 30, Satcowitz said by phone.
For this second vote, the library trustees opted to resubmit the original budget they proposed with the 22% increase.
On May 29, the Randolph Selectboard held a special meeting to address the new budget, ultimately reducing it to $491,000 in a unanimous vote.
Resident Anne Kaplan pointed out at the May 29 meeting that a disagreement between what the library asked for and what the Selectboard countered with was a difference of $40,000 in taxes, but there was not as much detailed discussion over other budgets. Another resident, Sally Penrod said that the $40,000 difference spread across 5,000 residents is an additional $8 per person.
Resident George Daniel, however, said he thinks that comparing librarians to other town employees is “apples and oranges,” adding that the library is non-essential compared to the road crew or the sewer department.
“If it fell off the face of the earth tomorrow, life as we know it would continue,” Daniel said at the May 29 meeting.
Grasmick remains concerned that the current proposal anticipates that $50,000 would come from the trustees, she said Tuesday by phone.
Satcowitz clarified that the library has no obligation to raise and spend $50,000, but it’s included as a line item in the budget in case they wish to.
Essentially, the Selectboard has provided the library with a total that they can distribute as they please, Satcowitz said. The amount of funding for specific line items is up to the library to determine.
For Satcowitz, salary increases are warranted across the board, but not always feasible in one fell swoop.
“There are a lot of people in the town government who really ought to be paid more,” he said by phone.
The Town of Randolph plans to hire a company that can conduct a salary survey across the board, including for the library, and use those results to help guide the next budget process.
Residents have expressed uncertainty to Grasmick over which vote would best support the library, she said. The library’s board of trustees takes no official position on what has been proposed to voters.
“I don’t know how I’m going to vote on the budget,” Gasmick said.
She added that the library intends to open on July 1 regardless of the outcome, though she is not certain what that would look like. July 1 is a Wednesday, so the library’s hours would normally be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
At the May 29 meeting, resident Sarah Longchamp said the Selectboard hadn’t done enough to determine what would happen if the budget doesn’t pass.
“I wish I had more of a definitive answer,” Satcowitz said by phone.
A public hearing and informational meeting on the proposed Kimball Library budget will take place at 5:30 p.m. Monday, June 22 in Town Hall, 7 Summer Street, with the special town meeting vote set for Tuesday, June 30. Polls for ballot voting will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., also in Town Hall.
