Pam Kaiser of Middlebury used the audience-comment period at the Dec. 18 Elkhart County Council meeting to highlight library pay decisions in her community.

Kaiser said the Middlebury Library board voted to give all employees a 6% increase this year — the fifth consecutive annual raise for some staff — and that the raise will put the library director’s 2026 salary at about $111,000. Kaiser said she reviewed statewide data on govsalaries.com, which showed an average Indiana library director salary of about $77,410, and called the Middlebury figure "grossly out of proportion with the rest of the state." She asked the council to consider salary levels and board appointments when the council fills seats in June.

A council member responded that, once responsibilities of the county entity (SE1 in the transcript) are clarified, members will scrutinize budgets and appointments. The council did not take any formal action on the library matter at the meeting.