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Senior center seeks pay adjustment and funding for polling days; library notes modest state subsidy boost
Summary
Senior center director asked for a higher fitness-coordinator rate and highlighted new polling-site costs that add about $7,000 annually. The library reported a 3% municipal budget increase and a state subsidy uptick of about 7% (~$10,000); staffing reductions were noted.
At Monroeville's budget hearing, the senior center and library presented their proposed 2026 budgets and described service and staffing changes.
Senior center director Tara told council she kept most budget lines steady but asked council to consider increasing the hourly rate for the fitness coordinator, citing the coordinator's workload (5'6 classes daily) and credentials. Tara said she wanted the coordinator's compensation to remain competitive after a new hire last year started at a similar rate. She also highlighted an operational change: the senior center started serving as a polling location this fall, which requires a public-works employee to be on site early election mornings; Tara estimated roughly $2,500 per election (two elections per year), producing about $7,000 in additional staffing/overtime costs not included in last year's staffing budget. Tara said she has already spent about $5,000 this year on items that exceeded a $3,200 budget line.
Nicole from the library presented a municipal-budget request that increases roughly 3% overall and said the library earlier this year received a state subsidy increase of about 7%, worth roughly $10,000 based on the 2024 fiscal year numbers. Nicole said the library reduced staff by one position (now 14 full-time, 5 part-time) and will continue to adjust services while preserving core programming.
Council asked for project estimates and for staff to confirm whether some senior-center building work should be classified as capital (threshold noted at $5,000) or operating. Manager Alex asked public works and finance to provide cost estimates so the council could make accurate capital/operating classifications during the budget adoption process.
