Rising health insurance, program and workers' compensation costs for Byron-Bergen Public Library have triggered a request for nearly $4,000 more in the Town of Byron’s 2025 budget, Board President Sally Capurso says.
Capurso requested $10,000 from the board, an increase of $3,800 from the $6,200 it allotted in the 2024 budget.
She reminded everyone about last year’s vote for Municipal 414 to establish a tax for each of the towns of Bergen and Byron for the library. Bergen passed, but Byron did not, with a 42% vote.
“The trustees are committed to, once again, pursuing this municipal 414 proposition in 2025, however, now in 2024 we both recognize and appreciate that both the town of Byron and our Byron-Bergen Public Library are transitioning with some new board members and experiencing an increase in expenditures," Capurso said during this month's town board meeting. "We are adjusting to new costs that we did not have before. We have to pay for workers' compensation, and we don't even know the cost of that because it will not be out until October. Our library strives to continue to offer relevant programming. Digital materials such as ebooks and audiobooks have also gone up. Additionally, we want to increase compensation and benefits for our loyal employees."
She cited numbers, including performer costs of $250 to $500, and health insurance estimated to range from $5,724 to $13,000.
"We are still dipping into our reserve funds, which have decreased about 15% from 2023 to 2024," she said. "Would the town board consider putting an amount of $10,000 in your budget to support the final version of the library for the 2024 budget year?”
Town Supervisor Candace Hensel said that budget talks will be coming up.
“And we’ll see where we stand,” Hensel said.
The town of Bergen residents supported Municipal 414, which now provides a tax of 55 cents per $1,000 assessed property value in Bergen that will go toward library expenses.
As for the worker’s compensation insurance, the library board had approached Genesee County officials previously to find out if Byron-Bergen could be added to the plan, since at the time only Richmond Memorial Library was officially listed.
Byron-Bergen’s board then presented a resolution, per requirements of a local law, to be added by the deadline of July 15. That request prompted discussion during a recent Ways and Means meeting to revise the local law and set a public hearing.
The proposal is to amend a law dating back to 1962 that has since been amended several times related to the county’s mutual self insurance plan.
The resolution states that any municipal entity eligible to become a member of the plan may become a member by filing a certified copy of the resolution of its governing body that indicates its intention to become a participant of the plan for the next calendar year of operation with the executive secretary of the plan on or before July 15 of any year.
Genesee County Legislature approved the hearing for 5:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at the county Legislature Chambers in the Old Courthouse, 7 Main St., Batavia. Anyone interested in the topic that wants to speak may do so during this time.
