I have been getting a lot of requests in comments to provide the breakdown on personnel costs in the Dartmouth Public Library.
Mr. Friedman of the Finance Committee wrote about the library in an opinion letter in the Standard Times today. Mr Friedman notes that the top two earners in the department combined make over $150K. That amount is more than 15% of the total budget. He also points out that the Trustees gave the Director a contract in excess of the appropriation by Town Meeting.
When the Town Meeting did not appropriate the increase, the Trustees paid it from grant money. I don't think that grant money may counted as her salary. Now the Trustees are asking, in FY10, for a consolidation (in their word) which rolls the grant into the appropriation for the Director salary. They can not contract with the Director in excess of the appropriation (see here). I feel that the grant is not a salary increase and it is improper to call it so.
But back to the people costs, I don't have them in electronic file...
...format so I'll type them out here(these are the FY10 or next year's request which reflect a 15% reduction in the total budget as asked by the Budget Director),
Position_____________Salary/wage______ hrs/wk
Library Director_____________________$85,651.69___________40
Assistant Director__________________ $70,520.46___________40
Professional Librarian X 2______________ $54,631.06_______40
Administrative Clerk_________________$51,470.45___________40
Library Associate X 2____________________$41,752,37________35
Pre-professional Library Assistant X 2___$39,020.89_______35
Pre-professional Library Assistant___$35,665.67___________35
Library Assistant____________________$29,399.75___________35
Library Assistant ___________________$29,030.78___________35
Substitutes__________________________$37,116.00
Pages________________________________$15,261.90
Custodian(full time)_________________$44,593.92___________40
Custodian(part time)_________________$18,754.42__________ 18
The total people cost of library services is $696,547.92 or about 79% of the $873,350.66 budget request. By contrast, the library materials budget is $54,767.75
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Library department people costs
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52 comments:
Those personnel cost are beyond ridiculous. I will never vote for a library override again.
But, they're probably counting on one at some point.
Bill, you should have titled this "Library department costs people."
Bill, how would the trustees reduce Denise's salary and eliminate the Assistant Director? Is this feasible and legal? Almost $86,000 is very expensive. Maybe we should elim the Director and let the Asst Director run libraries for $70,000? That is a lot for an Assistant too. What solutions do we have? Nobody in town has an Administrative Clerk for $51, 500? Hickox? Gagne? Iacaponi? My understanding fromothers is that Medeiros and Quail are squirreled away in their quanit and pretty offices or are out on breaks and never see the public. What are ther hours, 9-5? They never seem to be there. They even changed their door to be less accessible? This is very concerning to library patrons. The programming at the library is not of high value or good, and these people make this money. They could make combined $50,000 less and the book budget wouldn't need alms. Who are the two professional librarians making 54,600? Do they have Masters? What the heck is a library associate, a librarian? And this people make 42,000 to work 35 hours. I don't think the Director puts in a moment beyond 40 hours. I am troubled by the people making salaries and working less than 4o hours. Maybe it is because of evening shift? Two library custodians, a joke. That is pricey-I'm all for equity in wages and benefits, but this small library is expensive to run. They need to be flexible and renogtiate some contracts. In other parts of country, a Masters librarian makes $40,000.
I also want to know the vacation, sick leave and buy out perks for the top five staff. Does anyone know if they get 5 paid weeks off a year? we can't afford these retirements. Something must be done to get through to these people the town economic truth, we are broke and they expecxt raises and giant salaries. Very unsettling and unethical.
Yep here we go again now let's attack the library. There are much more constructive ways of approaching this then tearing peoples work and reputations apart. Allowing people to write such negative statements about peoples work ethics without any facts is just wrong.
Yes I am sure all your supporters will cheer you on like a lion fight in a Roman coliseum.
Yep here we go again now let's attack the library. There are much more constructive ways of approaching this then tearing peoples work and reputations apart. Allowing people to write such negative statements about peoples work ethics without any facts is just wrong.
Yes I am sure all your supporters will cheer you on like a lion fight in a Roman coliseum.
Before you criticize the various kinds of folks discussing this, mainly patrons-Read the Chronicle, they'll cut the youth services the most and hours. I agree, they must analyze the salaries.
Facts only. You decide. The Library Director gets 20 vacation days, 15 sick leave days, 12.5 holidays,4 bereavement days for immediate family, 1 for aunts uncles or in-laws, 3 personal days, and a partride in a pear tree. O.K., just kidding about the partridge. We should throw one in there though. Those things are tasty.
If you're facts are right on, those benefits are too high. 20 Vaca and 12.5 holidays = 32.5 days, are you serious? OH MY How much is sick leave buy out worth and max--don't tall us, it'll hurt.
That's right folks. Dartmouth salaries and benefits are killing us. There are those who will keep trying to deny it but it is what it is.
Library Director--sick leave
Sick leave shall be accumulated without limitaion. Upon retirement, employee shall be paid at rate of 15% of current per diem rate for all unused sick days.
As Joe Friday on Dragnet used to say, "Just the facts Ma'm"
As Mr Friedman mentioned,the trustees gave the Director a contract in excess of the appropriation by Town Meeting. I believe that action is illegal. According to Chapter 44:sec 31 of MA Gen Laws, no department shall incur a liability in excess of the appropriation made for the use of such department, each item voted by Town Meeting being considered as a seperate appropriation.
The Director's salary is a seperate line item in Schedule A, voted at Town Meeting. The statute goes on to list all the exceptions for adhering to this law. The Library Director's salary ain't one of 'em.
wow the jealousy is palpable in here.
I would like to clarify that I am in no way jealous, I just happen to believe that the law regarding appropriations was broken. I have put my reasons for this belief before you. If all you can do is resort to name calling, I believe my argument is strengthened.
The library should wake up. Yes, it got an override last year but people are not going to support it again. Not with this information. Mr. Friedman is right. It will be the cause of its own demise.
Once again, library staffing questions come up and the library people scatter like.....
On 2/25 Mr. Friedman's letter stated "For years, FinCom has asked the BOT and the director to explore options to reduce salary costs, including using a tiered salary structure. Such a model would supplement the professional staff with lower-cost hourly employees, part-time assistants and volunteers. The FinCom's repeated requests have gone unfulfilled." Then, on 2/25 The Chronicle posted a front page picture of a library substitute checking books out to a patron with the caption, "The library is using more on call, part time employees these days to help trim salary costs." They say one picture equals a thousand words.
BILL: Is there any comparative data to show these saleries and costs are higher than other towns nearby or even statewide averages. Intellectual honesty dictates we should have some semblance of "context" even though many in Dartmouth believe we are an island onto ourselves and should be immune from any such comparisons. Thanks for your insights.
We can compare some salaries within our own town. The Standard Times lists town salaries for 2008. I pulled up high school teachers' salaries, and the first 50 range from $63,868.98 to $87,794.12. That means that the 2 top library salaries being discussed are right in the range of 2008 teacher salaries. I think teachers earn every penny they get.
I don't have the salary survey in front of me, but Denise Medeiros was considered high salary. I am not Bill just a citizen who looked it over at Town Hall. The library has six "real" librarians" including the Director and Asst Director who work behind the scenes. The $30,000 helpers are as knowledgeable as the "real" librarians. I think the problem isn't with the staff or the staff is heavy, it is with needing to combine the Director, Asst. Director and Secretary. Librarians do book groups, and computer site work. There is absolutely no need for a secretary.
Teachers and librarians are different. School administration and library administration are entirely different. School secretaries and library ones are diffferent. Can't compare. Except school secretaries make much less, even the Superintendent secretary makes less.
Anonymous said: one picture equals a thousand words. What is one photo-op worth. A photo-op is a picture designed to give a certain impression that may not be based in fact. So you have a photo-op of a volunteer working the desk. The budget does not reflect savings from lower cost employees.
Much of this blog reflects personal perceptions about what a particular position is worth. I'll speculate that in most, if not all cases, the poster is commenting on the worth of a position outside his/her area of expertise. In these cases, I challenge these individuals to support accusations of excessive compensation with evidence.
Good luck with that anon 3:42!
I have expertise as a taxpayer. A position is worth what we as taxpayers are willing to pay for it.
Taxpayers, of which I am one, are neither omniscient nor infallible. I challenge all individuals, even taxpayers, to support accusations of excessive compensation with evidence.
Dead on. Everyone in the private sector is getting pinched and few have defined benefit pension plans; but they are supposed to pay more and more for people that work in easier jobs, have more vacation, better job security and a rock solid 80% pension plan. Yet they are not supposed to question the pay scales because they are not "experts"? Please!
The library trustees should act to not accept raises and perhaps offer 10% pay cut two top 2 earners.
Anonymous 5:10: Who said that you're not supposed to question the pay scale? Just try supporting accusations of excessive compensation with evidence instead of emotional rants.
It is not up to the taxpayer to justify cost reduction. It is up to the tax receiver to justify that they are worthy of continued funding.
The critical question for Dartmouth whether it is library, police, DPW or teacher salaries is how does Dartmouth compare to other nearby towns as well as statewide averages. The ardent anti-tax folk absolutely refuse to recognize this. Should Dartmouth really be an island and knowingly ignore the comparative reality?
I ask again Bill, do you have any comparative data?
Why are we always asked to compare with other public sector jobs? How about comparing what people in the libraries earn with what an employee that works at a bookstore earns? Why not compare the salary of a teacher at the high school with a teacher at Stang? Put on top of that the cost of benefits. The payscale for public sector jobs has gotten out of balance with comparison to private sector jobs in the entire state and it is the taxpayer that picks up the bill.
Stang teachers do not have to deal with half the problems teachers in the public schools do. Private schools can toss trouble makers out, they do not have to accept special needs students, or slower ability students on and on. The cost to send a student to Stang is also roughly 50% than the cost to educate a student in the public system. Look at the American Independant School Association web site and learn that on average private school teachers do not necesarily lag behind public teachers - but hey why let fats get in the way. The comparison of a certified librarian (with masters degree in library science) to a clerk at a book store is equally disingenuous but hey why not throw it out there. You figure we must all be stupid enough to swallow your nonsense hook line and sinker.
What we are being asked to do is compare inflated compensation packages with other inflated compensation packages. If we find one that is more over-compensated than ours, we will be asked to match the even higher one. This leads to a cycle of everinflated compensation packages on to infinity.
Anon 8:13: Comparing our town librarians with bookstore clerks is asinine and insulting. Its like comparing the salary of our technology support person to the salary of someone at Best Buy. They do entirely different jobs that require entirely different skill sets and educational backgrounds.
Why not ask how much someone with an Masters in Information & Library Science makes in the private sector?
Please see the links on this post for the comparative data you seek. One thing to point out is that comparative data does not provide any indication of whether or not Dartmouth can afford to pay these salaries. My point all along is that we can not continue as before. Either we will have wholesale layoffs and lose services or we will find different ways to provide the service. It is not a question if continuing to pay the same people a comparable salary. We can't.
Way too easy given the information available on the internet. Here is a link to information on the pay for those with Masters in Library Science. The intertubes are amazing, don't you think?
Ludicrous,I am pro tax and quite liberal regarding services, but the library benefits and salaries are too high. The expectations the Director has are absurd and if you happen to have a conversation with the Director or Assistant Director they are angry with the public and very selfish sounding. These people will stay til their great retirement then they will be in Florida or living it up.
Thank you for the MLS data, I had seen those stats before when looking at my relatives earnings who are more in line with those numbers. $85,000 is insane, plus the retirement, someone said a month of time off a year. Then get $80,000 of this for years! Medeiros should be earning $60,000 a year. To those of you Masters whiners, my realtives who have a masters-some make $40,000 others make $60,000...It does not guarantee you $85,000 or a 5% raise a year. I think we could get a much better Director (like one of our reference librarians) for less. Medeiros is a disappointment with lackluster ideas and performance. Her secretary is always out of the office driving her around, like a Chaffeur. But they are always smiling cause they have the sure deal. Someone should start a petition about the raises and someone should say a lot at Town meeting!
Salary issue aside - comparing a certified librarian with a clerk at a bookstore is about as sophisticated an analysis as we see on these blogs.
The problem we face is that the public sector does not seem to know how to bring economics into the equation. A certified librarian should be compensated for her knowledge-- just as an owner or manager of a store is. On the other hand, the store understands that not all employees need to enter the management pipeline. They hire clerks to do some things. You do not need to pay over $20/hr, plus wonderful benefits to shelve books and check them out. But hey why confuse you with a reality check.
Has anyone else realized that we have one public employee criticizing other public employees? UMass Dartmouth pays handsome salaries, and employees get state pensions and state health benefits. Dartmouth can't match those benefits, but I guess that doesn't matter as long as you continue to get yours.
Bill,
Thank you for actually posting some evidence. I think this elevates the level of conversation.
Here's some more comp data from the Bureau of Labor Stats: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes254021.htm.
In fairness, Peter Friedman, who is also a public employee brings home $90,000 per year.
http://www.bostonherald.com/projects/payroll/massachusetts/last_name.ASC/UMS/friedman
How much can the state afford? Maybe we should cut faculty salaries??? Don't they only teach 3 classes per week???
I took a look at the PayScale website showing US librarian salaries. It's interesting, but salaries can vary greatly from region to region. I know someone who teaches in the western US, and has been teaching for more than 20 years. She earns around $20,000 less than teachers in this region, but her cost of living is lower too.
Anon 11:39: Very good point! Salaries often reflect cost of living.
not here. people feel ok comparing salaries in Dartmouth to salaries in West virginia stating" it looks like a nice place to live" or one of those counties in georgia were lssi took over. just becuase there you can buy a home for 80,000 there doesnt make it a great idea.
Close the place. People wont stop complaining unless the library closes. It worked for the two schools.
There are parts of the country where the cost of living is the same as here and the Directors don't make $85,000 with extended benefits, they make $60,000-70,000. There has got to be a ceiling. The real librarians read reviews and order a blaanced collection. Desk staff which checks out books does not need to cost $15-20 an hour. More like ten. It does require computer and people skills. BILL< CAN YOU MAKE A LIBRARY ENTRY FOR MARCH TO CONTINUE DISCUSSION?
This outrage seems a little melodramatic to me.
As a librarian in one of those parts of the country some of you would sneer at , I can tell you that the pay of the director or AD does not seem excessive.
I looked at the stats on payscale.com and bear in mind that not only is COL a factor, but also size, population served, number of employees, collection size and so on. In many libraries, the director is the only professional staff member. That doesn't appear to be the case in Dartmouth.
Paying a custodians and library assistants 40k seems very generous by our standards but it was obviously a management decision to pay a living wage. Where I live, these employees make just a little more than kids flipping burgers at McDonalds.
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