5-year library plan gets final OK

The Oconto County Board passed a five-year library services plan Sept. 19 covering the years 2025 through 2029, with supervisors from the Oconto Falls area objecting to the size of the revenue cut slated for the Oconto Falls Community Library in 2025.

The plan revises the formula for allocating the county-administered library tax levy in a way that reduces the funds distributed to five of the six local libraries in Oconto County. Oconto Falls’ $15,623 reduction is roughly one-third of the total cut of $45,564.

The 2025 decreases for the other libraries amount to Lakes Country (Lakewood) $10,344, Gillett $7,803, Suring $6,261 and Lena $5,534. Farnsworth Public Library in Oconto is allocated a $9,857 increase because otherwise the 2025 funding would be lower than the minimum required by state statute. The municipalities that fund the local libraries must decide how to make up the differences.

County Board Chairman Alan Sleeter said all six libraries will still be funded at levels higher than the state minimum. He was part of an ad hoc committee that spent more than a year studying the way Oconto County funds its local libraries.

“A lot of it was understanding the why’s,” County Administrator Richard Heath said.

There was general agreement that the old formula placed an unfair burden on the 11 municipalities that are not currently part of a local library system and must split the six-figure bill submitted by Brown County for services provided to Oconto County residents who use the out-of-county library.

“It was a monster,” Sleeter said. “It all started when some municipalities came forward and said, ‘You know, we’re being overtaxed for libraries.’”

The plan passed on a vote of 25-2-1, with Oconto Falls area Supervisors Bart Schindel and Jolene Barkhaus voting no and Supervisor Elizabeth Holman abstaining.

“That $15,000 is equivalent to having to cut an employee and will result in programming to be cut big time,” Holman said. “I think it’s a shame that any of them could get any cuts, because we could potentially close some doors because of it.”

“I feel that Oconto Falls took a big hit compared to the other four,” added Schindel, who asked if Oconto Falls could form a joint library system like Lakewood, Suring and Lena, which are supported by surrounding towns as well as the central municipality.

Currently Oconto Falls, Gillett and Oconto libraries are funded only by their city governments in addition to the library tax administered by the county.

Barkhaus asked why the library services plan doesn’t specifically address the Brown County bill, and Sleeter said Brown County does serve a large area especially in the more populated southeast towns of Little Suamico and Chase, resulting in an annual bill of $150,000 or more.

“We couldn’t build and fund a library for that amount of money,” Sleeter said.

Supervisor Don Bartels Jr. of Lakewood said no community is exempt from paying for libraries.

“It’s just a matter of who you write the check to,” Bartels said. “This is probably the least bad plan we could come up with. Nobody is going to be 100% happy, and I appreciate that. If everybody’s unhappy, it’s a pretty good plan.”

Supervisor Pat Scanlan said the only way to make the annual Brown County invoice go away is for the remaining 11 municipalities to enter into joint library systems, but they would have to do it all at once.

“Otherwise whoever’s left will foot the whole bill,” Scanlan said.

wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com