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Library managers agree to wage freeze

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By Lynn Hulsey and James Cummings
Staff Writer Updated 5:00 PM Thursday, June 18, 2009

DAYTON — Pay increases planned for Dayton Metro Library managers were canceled this week as library officials struggle to balance the budget, according to Mark Willis, library spokesman.

The board of trustees on Wednesday, June 17, froze salaries of 45 managers and confidential employees and is asking 280 unionized employees to make pay concessions as well.

The board also accepted an offer by library Executive Director Timothy Kambitsch to roll back the 5 percent raise he received this year. His annual salary will return to its 2008 level of $129,000 for one year.

Canceling the non-unionized workers 3 percent raise, which was scheduled for July, and rolling back Kambitsch’s salary saves the library system $84,945 annually.

It is part of $500,000 that must be carved out of this year’s budget, which is to be revised down because revenues declined 13.6 percent to $26.7 million. The library is using cash reserves to cover the losses and Kambitsch has not determined what additional cuts will be made.

Kambitsch said library managers suggested they forego pay raises due to the rapid plunge in state funding tied to the state’s declining tax revenues.

Rich Robinson, president of the Dayton Metro Library Staff Association, said he will recommend that members forego the 3 percent raise they are scheduled to get in July.

“There’s a certain sense of inevitability there. I think most library people recognize the situation we are in,” Robinson said. “Quite simply the library is the hand that feeds us. If the library is insolvent then we’ve got issues.”

He said negotiations with library management will begin next week and a union membership vote would be held July 19.

The library board is expected to ask voters in November to approve a local property tax levy to replace the existing 1.25-mill, 5-year levy, which expires at the end of the year. Willis said the board is considering a new levy of up to 2.15 mills in November. If it fails and the current levy expires, the library system will lose up to $15 million a year, and layoffs would be necessary, Willis said.

“Frankly we’re struggling because we feel like we need more than we have right now, but we also are realistic,” Willis said. “We know how much the community can tolerate too and we don’t want to ask for more than the voters can support.”

Kambitsch said the library already has drastically reduced spending for capital improvements and is only making essential repairs. Spending for new books and other materials has been reduced by $400,000, and some positions have been left vacant.

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