Bricks and mortar aren’t the only improvements needed at the Lawrence Public Library, city commissioners were told during their first day of hearings for the 2006 budget.

Bruce Flanders, director of the Lawrence Public Library, asked commissioners to fund an 8 percent salary increase for the 70 employees of the library.

He said the increase was needed after a 2000 pay survey found that average wages at the Lawrence library were about 20 percent less than at other libraries in Big 12 university communities or communities similar in size to Lawrence.

“There is no good way for us to compete for top talent when we have a gap like that,” Flanders said. “It is even difficult for us to post a job application nationally because normally we receive criticism rather than applications.”

Flanders said the average starting salary for a Lawrence librarian was $23,000. He said most communities Lawrence’s size paid $30,000 or above.

The salary increase, which compares to past increases of 5 percent, comes as the city has agreed to study possibly doubling the current size of the library. Flanders said he knew that it could look like the library was asking for an awful lot at once.

But City Commissioner Sue Hack said expansion and wage increases should be coupled.

“You have to invest in what goes inside the library, too,” Hack said. “In a sense, I think we have been living on borrowed time with the library for a while now.”

The hearings were the first as commissioners work to put together a budget for 2006. The hearings will continue at 2 p.m. today at City Hall and again at 8 a.m. Wednesday at City Hall. Commissioners are expected to give City Manager Mike Wildgen directions on drafting the budget later this month. Commissioners must adopt a budget by early August.

Other requests commissioners heard Monday included:

• Adding a new employee at the Lawrence Municipal Court to better track people who have entered a diversion program. The programs are a way for people to keep offenses, such as driving under the influence, off their record if they agree to pay a fine and receive no more violations during a specified period. But David Corliss, the city’s director of legal services, said Municipal Court was having difficulty tracking in a timely manner whether participants were meeting all diversion requirements.
• Adding a fifth city building inspector. Victor Torres, director of neighborhood resources, said the department’s inspection staff had been strained by a high number of inspections to complete each day.