Library seeking 7.8 per cent budget hike

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This article was published 21/03/2023 (1112 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Property owners in communities serviced by the Western Manitoba Regional Library would see small increases to their taxes under a proposed levy increase in its 2023 budget.

That budget would see a 7.8 per cent rise in expenditures at $121,010 more than in 2022 if approved.

Brandon property owners would see a 0.75 cent per capita increase and its rural partners a 0.5 cent per capita increase under the proposal, WMRL director of library services Erika Martin said at a special meeting of Brandon City Council held Monday at 6 p.m.

No vote was scheduled to take place on the proposal during either the special or regular meetings on Monday.

Under Manitoba law, municipalities collect an annual tax from their residents to pay for the operation of public libraries within their jurisdiction.

There are six branches of the WMRL: two in Brandon, one in Carberry/North Cypress, one in Glenboro/North Cypress, one in Hartney/Grassland and one in Neepawa.

According to Martin, the difference in the levy increases between Brandon and the rural WMRL communities is that rent is much higher in Brandon compared to the other municipalities.

To that end, Brandon contributes a rent subsidy, 50 per cent of which is accounted for in the levy paid by residents.

Under the 2023 library budget, residents will be charged $10.65 per capita plus half of the rent subsidy, equivalent to a combined $12.26 per capita.

If Winnipeg is excluded because of its massive $30.21 per capita library levy, the provincial average levy is $15.34 per capita.

Those in the rural communities will end up paying a levy of $12.50 per capita. They do not provide a rent subsidy, but rent in those communities were stated to be below market value.

Causing increases to the library budget, Martin said, were the rising costs of transportation, inflation making material and technology more expensive, and a moderate climb for book prices and salaries.

Rises to the minimum wage last year and planned for this year had major impacts on the salary budget, with employees’ collective bargaining agreement stating that the library is a living wage employer.

Martin said the library tries to address expenses by cutting back on the number of administrative roles, hiring new employees at entry-level rates and getting administrators and supervisors to transport books between branches when they are making visits after an employee who previously handled the task recently retiring.

Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Ward 2) requested that in following years, the library present budget information ahead of the city’s own budget deliberations usually scheduled in late January or early February each year.

Adding on, Coun. Bruce Luebke (Ward 6) said he wished council had been provided with the library’s 2022 financial statements before the 2023 budget had been presented.

In response, Martin said she had been told by previous employees who had led the budgeting process that these things had not traditionally done in that time frame, but that she would work on implementing those changes in future years.

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