ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — The upcoming fiscal budget deadline is on the horizon and those responsible for crunching the numbers are at odds with having to make some difficult decisions.

During a special meeting on Friday, the St. Charles City-County Library Board of Trustees were presented a proposal that would potentially close three of its branches. Those include McClay Library in St. Charles, Deer Run in O’Fallon and Kisker Road near Weldon Spring.

If passed, the Kisker Road and McClay branches would close by June 30. Meanwhile, the Deer Run branch would remain open until renovations are completed at the Middendorf Kredell Branch in O’Fallon.

CEO Jason Kuhl argued the closures are necessary to pay staff a competitive wage at its remaining branches. Kuhl said the salary increase is necessary to improve its ongoing recruitment and retention problems.

During the presentation, Kuhl also cited research indicating that the county's library employees are currently being paid nearly 19% less than people in similar positions in the St. Louis area.

Those who oppose the proposal say the branches selected to be shut down would impact communities in high need and that not enough public input was gathered.

The special meeting, which lasted roughly four hours, ended with a decision to ultimately postpone a vote until mid-July, allowing board members an opportunity to bring other proposals to the table.

Anyone interested in watching the full meeting can do so over on the board's YouTube page.