Giving a bad name to a good service

It really is too bad, and it’s hard to comprehend how a service that opens the door to information for Oshawa residents can be so unwilling to share the truth about itself.

The fact is, the question of why Oshawa Public Libraries is continuing to spend the majority of its budgets on wages and salaries, while relying on the city for funds to be put toward things like rebranding and new technology for their branches, is one that needs to be answered.

For 2017, of the approximately $8.9 million the city will more than likely approve for the OPL, more than 80 per cent of it will be going towards personnel costs.

It’s a common denominator for many organizations to have large chunks of their operating budget being put toward personnel – it’s something the City of Oshawa knows all too well – but it’s unclear just how exactly more than $7.1 million is being divided up to different staffers and why the OPL seems to be increasing their staff funding at a much higher rate than others.

Making comparisons to other Durham municipal libraries is difficult without management details, but the chunk of budget going towards employee wages has increased almost seven per cent in two years.

There could be an explanation for this, perhaps a review of staffing levels found more senior positions were needed, perhaps former management positions needed to be split to prevent burnout.

The fact is, the OPL has once again shown itself unwilling to open itself up for public scrutiny, and when it is the taxpayers that are paying the bills, this is simply not acceptable. It should also be noted that the OPL is no longer providing it’s salary information to the Sunshine List, something they are not obligated to do, but something they did do in 2013, but then suddenly stopped.

Now, the burden falls to our city council. With this information now publicly noted, it’s time they took it and got the answers the OPL seems apparently unwilling to provide to the media.

It could also be time as a council to consider whether a review is needed of just what is happening at the OPL and why an agency that is supposed to be an open resource for residents, is so unwilling to cooperate with simple questions.