By TOM GERROW
BG Independent News
The Wood County District Public Library board of trustees met Monday, Nov. 17, to consider pressing issues, including selecting a health insurance plan for library employees and approving a budget for 2026.
On the insurance front, with the existing plan from Paramount no longer available, the board shopped the market and received a number of quotes with proposed premium increases of up to 125 percent.
“The final quote we did receive from Paramount for their Northwest Ohio Business Alliance, MEWA, through the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce, was a mere 33 percent increase,” said Michael Penrod, the library director. “I don’t say that jokingly, but when we got that 33 percent, it was like…compared to the others, thank goodness.”
The finance committee recommended adopting the Paramount MEWA (Multiple Employee Workforce Alliance) HMO 1500 plan, and the board of trustees approved. Paramount recently agreed to a contract with ProMedica, so there will be no changes in network or doctors in this new plan.
The board of trustees also made other changes to the health benefit plan. The share of premiums paid by the WCDPL will increase from 80 percent to 85 percent for individual coverage. Spouse, children and family coverage premiums will remain a 50-50 percent split.
Deductibles will increase from $1,000 to $1,500. With the $1,000 deductible, the employee paid $300 and the library paid $700. With the $1,500 deductible, employees will pay $500 and the library will pay $1,000.
This plan is for 2026, and insurance premium rates and deductibles may change in future years depending on market conditions.
The board also approved changes to flexible spending accounts, used to cover some healthcare costs. The amount that can be withheld increased from $1,500 to $3,000, and the board increased the carryover amount from $500 to the IRS-allowed maximum of $680.
Vision and dental insurance were not on the agenda because 2026 will be the second year of a two-year agreement with Mutual of Omaha for that coverage.
The trustees also reviewed and approved a library budget of $3,498,892 for 2026. The new budget is $444,900 less than the $3,943,792 budget in 2025.
The biggest item in the budget was employee salaries and benefits, $2,189,192 or 62.57 percent of the total budget, up from $2,059,192 in 2025. That $130,000 increase was due to the increase in health insurance premiums.
The section of the budget covering library operations decreased from $631,100 in 2025 to $523,600 for 2026. A large part of that reduction was in professional fees and cleaning services, with cleaning responsibilities going to maintenance personnel and staff.
“Staff will be responsible for cleaning their own offices,” Penrod said. “But we had to find the money to move around, and that was the first, best place to find a chunk of funds.”
A bright spot in the budget was allocations for library materials and information: $644,500 or 18.42 percent of the total budget.
“In 2022, the national average for libraries in America was that they spent 10 percent of their budget on new materials,” Penrod said. “We have always believed that Bowling Green and Wood County deserve better.
“This figure, $644,500, is 15 percent of our estimated tax revenue plus $184,000 in gifts,” Penrod said.
He also noted that, unlike some libraries in the state, the WCDPL is debt free.
The board also voted for pay adjustments for library employees. The director’s salary increased from $108,494 to $111,461.
When considering the motion, Ken Frisch, president of the board of trustees, noted that a challenge that boards often face is communication between the leadership of the organization and the board. “And the communication is excellent,” he said. “We do not get surprised.”
The board raised fiscal officer pay from $38.32/hour to $39.40/hour for a 22.5-hour work week.
“As president, I get those nice communications with the state auditors saying we’re coming to audit your books,” Frisch said. “Sometimes that causes panic for people. I don’t panic because I know that we’re in good shape.”
The board also approved a pool of $32,818 to fund, at the discretion of the library director, raises for library employees.
