Wage parity for the employees at the Powassan and District Union Public Library has been a priority for the library board for years.
It’s been a slow process and despite efforts by the board to achieve wage parity for its workers, they remain far behind compared to their counterparts in similar-sized towns.
During 2024, the board attempted to close the gap by proposing a one-year, 26 per cent wage hike. Powassan council balked at the request and awarded the library a seven per cent increase.
To get ahead of the curve before the town council begins budget deliberations, the library board has submitted its 2025 proposed budget very early.
Library board member Laurie Forth told council at the Jan. 7 meeting, that it wanted the employees to get a 15 per cent raise in 2025. However, no matter how many times the library board worked the numbers, it couldn’t hit that 15 per cent figure.
Forth said what the board settled on after the number crunching was a proposed 9.88 per cent wage increase.
Marie Rosset, the library’s chief executive officer, said the proposed increase of nearly 10 per cent looks high but Rosset told council the employees don’t earn big bucks so although the percentage is high, the reality is the dollar figure is small.
Coun. Randy Hall, who is one of two council representatives on the library board, agreed with the percentage versus dollar argument.
The library is a shared cost service between Powassan, Nipissing and Chisholm and although it receives several provincial grants to help it operate, it’s the municipal contributions that make up the bulk of the budget.
The 2025 request as the municipal share is $260,742, Rosset said, which is an increase of $28,313 from 2024.
When broken down per community, Powassan’s share is $27,424, Nipissing contributes $5,868 while Chisholm’s contribution actually drops by $4,980 and results in the $28,313 dollar amount.
The formula for how each municipality assesses its share is based on the number of users. The more library users each community has, the more the municipality pays, Rosset said.
In Powassan the number of users jumped by 213 and the total number of users was 719, which resulted in a dramatic jump in its share to fund the library.
Mayor Peter McIsaac told Forth and Rosset he appreciated the board presenting its budget this early in the process because it gave council a starting point.
McIsaac added, that while having more than 700 library users who live in Powassan was an assuring number, he didn’t like how the shared formula is structured.
“At one time it used to be 60-20-20,” McIsaac said, with Powassan picking up the lion’s share. But the formula has gotten out of whack with Powassan paying even more of the total municipal share. For every dollar Chisholm contributes, Powassan puts in $7, McIsaac said.
McIsaac said this had nothing to do with the library but rather was a conversation town council would need to have in the future.
Last year when the library ran into budget issues and didn’t get the full amounts it requested from the three municipalities, it stopped buying books because there weren’t enough funds to make these purchases.
Book purchases resumed a short time later, Rosset said, thanks to several donations, which totalled $19,423. The donors requested $2,558 of the total amount be spent to buy new books, which the library did.
Last year’s budget woes also resulted in the library closing every Saturday. It then opened one Saturday each month after hearing from the public. Not many people use the library on Saturdays, Rosset said, but moving forward the library will see what it can further do with Saturday service.
Rosset has also created a six-year plan with targets the board hopes to achieve each year to close the wage parity gap.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
