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Library director outlines services as council approves $27,000 transfer to fund staff agreement
Summary
Library Director Terry Stano presented the FY27 library budget, highlighted rising digital circulation and programming, and described certification requirements. The committee unanimously approved a $27,000 transfer to fund a ratified memorandum of agreement with library staff that includes a 2.75% wage increase.
The Committee of Ways and Means heard a detailed presentation from Library Director Terry Stano on May 18 as the panel reviewed the proposed FY27 budget for the public library.
Stano said the library meets Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners certification standards and described staff and service levels: 26 employees (17 full time), eight professional librarians and 64 hours of public service per week. She credited trustees, the friends group and volunteers for supporting materials and programming.
"We will again this year" meet certification and state-aid requirements, Stano said, noting that the library must devote 13% of its operating budget to materials and that much of the town's share is covered through three-year averaging and supplemental sources.
Members questioned the decline in physical circulation and large increases in e-content; Stano and Assistant Director Lauri Kavanaaugh said that the shift to digital resources was a deliberate response to changing user behavior accelerated by the pandemic and that e-content licensing is substantially more costly than buying physical titles.
Finance Director Esmond summarized a memorandum of agreement reached with the Braintree Library Staff Association, which the union ratified. The agreement includes a 2.75% across-the-board wage increase, alignment of vacation accrual rules with other town units, modifications to bereavement leave and sick-to-vacation conversion rules, and a negotiated shift differential for certain hours.
The committee voted to transfer $27,000 from the finance department/administration program to the library payroll accounts to fund the agreement; the motion passed unanimously.
The committee also acknowledged two revolving-fund receipts for the library: $45,000 from trustees for materials and $5,000 from room rental revenue that will be applied to library programs and materials.
The committee urged continued monitoring of materials spending and programming capacity as digital costs grow; Stano said the library will continue space-planning work and pursue grants to support improvements.
The committee moved on after thanking Stano and her staff for their presentation.
