Editorial: Library muddle

The public library’s suggestion to scale back services over wage issue should concern local taxpayers.

The story lines coming out of the Lawrence Public Library are becoming troubling.

First, library director Brad Allen continues to talk about how library staff members are grossly underpaid, even after city commissioners approved about $255,000 in new funding for salaries as part of the 2017 city budget.

Second, a political battle seems to be brewing between the City Commission and the library’s board of trustees over how the library’s tax rate should be set and how high it should rise.

But the most disturbing reading these days from the library came in a Journal-World article on Sunday when Allen raised the possibility that services at the library may have to be reduced if a multiyear plan to increase salary levels at the library can’t be implemented.

Lawrence taxpayers have to be wondering if they forgot to read the fine print of the 2010 bond issue that funded an $18 million expansion of the Lawrence Public Library. In case you have forgotten, taxpayers agreed to a 1.5 mill increase in their property taxes to pay for the 20-year bonds. It also was understood that the library would get another 0.5 mill increase to pay for increased operational costs, including salary expenses.

Taxpayers have done their part. They are paying the 1.5 mill increase to pay for the library debt, and even before this most recent tax increase, the library was receiving its 0.5 mill increase for additional operating expenses.

Taxpayers are paying, and yet they now hear threats of service cuts? What type of half-baked plot is that?

For a moment, forget the fundamental question here: Are city officials underfunding the library or are library leaders being unrealistic in what they are seeking? The fact that the city and the library find themselves in a situation of questioning whether there is enough money to adequately operate the expanded library is the type of quandary that drives taxpayers crazy and fuels the belief that government is a poor money manager.

Taxpayers deserve a better explanation than what they have received thus far on this issue. Why isn’t the half-mill increase for operational expenses adequate? Are library salaries really out of line with others in the area? Sunday’s Journal-World article wasn’t conclusive on that point. Some wages for Lawrence library employees were less than those found in Topeka or Johnson County. Others were higher. Some were basically equal. Leaders from all three libraries cautioned against making direct comparisons because the jobs at each library are a bit different.

The city needs to get to the bottom of that issue. The library provides an important service, and the employees of the facility deserve a fair wage. But taxpayers also deserve to be treated fairly.

When officials campaign on one set of numbers, they need to do everything in their power to make those numbers work. The city and library leaders need to embark on a strategic planning process that seeks to structure the library in a way that is most efficient for taxpayers.

Voters were given an expectation of how much it would cost to operate an expanded library. Leaders should work to ensure that story doesn’t end up on the library’s fiction shelf.