Photo by Dwayne Black The Marshall-Lyon County Library is one of the six appropriation requests heard during the Marshall City Council work session on Tuesday.

MARSHALL — A variety of different groups — from area transit providers to the Marshall Area Fine Arts Council and the Marshall-Lyon County Library — appeared before members of the Marshall City Council at a Tuesday work session. Each community group was there to make a request for city funding in 2024.

Council members heard a total of six appropriation requests, but didn’t take actions to grant them at the work session. Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson said city staff will use the funding requests as they go through the process of developing a 2024 budget proposal.

The Marshall-Lyon County Library was requesting an appropriation of $751,677 for 2024. That amount would be an increase of about $31,000, or 4.3%, from 2023.

Library Director Michele Leininger said the library had a strong budget proposal, “but it is right to the bone.” Without the requested increase, they might have to reduce staff and operating hours, she said.

Each year, the library makes funding requests to both the city of Marshall and Lyon County. In the past, the funding has generally been split along a two-thirds/one-third ratio. In the draft 2024 budget MLCL submitted to the council, the requested revenue from Lyon County was $375,839. That would be an increase of about $15,500, or 4.3%, from 2023.

Leininger said the requested funds would allow for an increase in personnel expenses of 3% across the board in 2024. This would keep up with Marshall city wages, she said. Salary expenses for full-time library employees would increase 4.4%. Leininger said this was due to a reset of the system of stepped wage increases for full-time employee salaries.

On 2024 operating expenses, “We tried to keep everything close to zero,” Leininger said. She said the budget proposal did include an increase in expenses for electronic resources, like e-books and streaming video. MLCL has seen a growing digital circulation, she said. Technology costs like public access computers and Wi-Fi are also increasing costs for the library.

MAFAC, Historical Society

and more seek support

Representatives of the Marshall Area Fine Arts Council said their organization was working to recover from a variety of challenges that started with the COVID lockdown and continued through sponsorship, membership and concert attendance declines, and cost increases.

“But we have not given up,” said MAFAC President Charlotte Wendel.

The group was requesting a total of $8,000. Of that total, $5,500 would go toward MAFAC’s operating fund, and $2,500 would go toward the popular Liberty Park concert series “A Little Night Music.”

Other appropriations requests included a request of about $29,474 from the Lyon County Historical Society. Historical Society members said the organization is in year two of a three-year period of purposefully increasing funding levels, which would make it possible to increase employee salaries and possibly help attract new employees.

Marshall Sounds of Summer requested $10,000 in funding for 2024, the same as for this year. Marc Klaith said organizers of Marshall’s summer festival are continuing to try to keep events free for the community.

United Community Action Partnership requested a funding contribution of up to $38,520, which would help replace a 2017 bus used for the Community Transit program. The funding request would cover up to 20% of the local share cost to replace the bus, UCAP representatives said.

Council members discussed whether they should take a second look at a funding request from the Southwest Initiative Foundation. SWIF was requesting a $5,500 appropriation for 2024. E.J. Moberg, director of administrative services for the city, said Marshall has not funded requests from SWIF in previous years.

Council member James Lozinski asked whether the city should possibly consider funding the request. SWIF grants had funded a wide variety of projects in Lyon County in the past year, from supporting area food shelves to helping fund emergency response equipment in area communities.

“I think it would be good to listen,” Lozinski said.