LIVERMORE FALLS — In an era of tight budgets, the Treat Memorial Library is making do as best it can, library trustee Pat Allen said at Tuesday’s selectmen meeting.
“We tried to do the best we could with the budget, keeping everything as low as we can,” she said. “The only thing we ask from the town is wages and materials (and) supplies.”
Allen said trustees thought library employees should get a raise, because they work only part time and therefore don’t have health insurance from the town.
“We have some good people who have been with us,” Allen said. “We don’t want to lose them.”
The total for library wages proposed for 2016-17 is $47,528.71.
The total proposed for 2016-117, including wages, is $65,098.71. That’s an increase of $2,380 over this fiscal year.
Town Manager Kristal Flagg pointed out there was a shortfall on the salary line in the library budget in 2015-16 so money had to be moved from another part of the budget to cover the shortfall.
A new charge added to the library budget for next year is $100 for the Maine State Library Network. The Maine Library Association is also charging the library $85 in dues, Allen said.
“That’s another increase we have no control over,” she said.
In other business, Flagg said the Police Department received a grant of $2,200 to replace a computer and desk in the patrol room. Selectmen voted to accept the grant.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office recently gave back $3,900 to the Police Department in criminal forfeiture money from a drug bust in town. Police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. said he wanted to use it to purchase eight body cameras for officers.
bmatulaitis@sunmediagroup.net
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