SUNDRE — Council recently deferred making a final decision on whether to approve a requested requisition increase for the Parkland Regional Library System.
Pat Toone, a Sundre Municipal Library board member as well as a Parkland trustee, outlined the reasons for the modest hike during the regular meeting prior to the provincial budget being passed.
Parkland’s 2019 budget included a per capita requisition from member municipalities of $8.25, which was increased by $0.30 to $8.55 in the library system’s 2020 budget passed earlier in October. That represents an additional overall contribution of about $800, she said.
“We provide a lot of services to our libraries to help them function better,” she said.
Parkland’s board of trustees decided to increase the fees to cover some increased costs, including, for example, some member libraries’ desire for improved bandwidth from the provincial SuperNet, whose operation is being transitioned to Bell from Axia, she said.
Furthermore, Parkland has three employee vacancies and the board discovered upon attempting to fill the positions, which remain open, that the pay grid was low and had not received any cost of living increases for years, she said, adding the grid change was approved last year and reflected in this year’s budget.
However, at the time of her presentation to council, the provincial government had not yet officially announced its fall budget, so Parkland’s financial plans were based on levels of provincial funding from the year before, she said.
For Parkland’s proposed budget to pass, the document requires support from two-thirds of member municipalities that represent two-thirds of the library region’s population, she said.
“It is really important for us to support this; we want it to go forward.”
Coun. Todd Dalke wondered whether a plan was in place in case the government ended up making reductions in funding.
While previous funding commitments for the remainder of the fiscal year were expected to be upheld, Toone added there is uncertainty moving forward.
“Next year might be a different thing,” she said.
Dalke made a motion to approve Parkland’s 2020 budget requisition increase to $8.55 per capita.
But because the provincial government’s budget was just days away from being made public, his council colleagues favoured delaying a final decision for the time being.
“I don’t agree with passing anything before the numbers come from the government,” said Coun. Cheri Funke, who wanted more certainty before deciding, but was not opposed to approving the request.
Mayor Terry Leslie agreed, and said that while supporting literacy and libraries is very important, he could not get behind the motion until the provincial budget was announced.
“We too are going to struggle with the provincial budget, potentially,” Leslie said.
“At this point, I think it’s premature to go forward with this, respectfully.”
Coun. Richard Warnock added council’s fall budget workshop was around the corner, and was not in favour of approving any numbers prior to that discussion. The requisition will come to council, he said, which will have to build it into the municipality’s budget anyway, he said, expressing the need to support libraries and their boards.
Chief administrative officer Linda Nelson suggested referring the matter to the fall budget workshop, which was held on Nov. 2.
Dalke inquired when Parkland would need to know whether council supported the requested increase in requisition.
Toone said the board was hoping to have confirmation by Nov. 7.
“That’s our organizational meeting,” she said, adding, “You might end up having to pay whether you approve it or not, if two-thirds of the communities” are on board.
Dalke’s motion ended up being defeated, with all of his council colleagues opposed.
Funke then motioned to receive the presentation for information, which carried.
