Proposal allocates more library funding

Lyon Co. proposal calls for matching funds agreement with city

MARSHALL -- Lyon County Commissioners discussed a proposal this week that could help the Marshall-Lyon County Library deal with a projected revenue shortfall next year.

On Tuesday, commissioners went over a proposed 2027 funding resolution that would include a $306,000 funding allocation, plus a provision for additional matching funds with the city of Marshall.

Under the proposal, the county would commit one additional dollar for every two dollars the city commits to the library, above the city's $880,576 funding allocation. The county's maximum additional contribution to the library would be $27,333.

"We're trying to make an offer that works for everybody," said Commissioner Todd Draper.

However, commissioners did not take action on the proposal Tuesday, saying they wanted to wait until the full county board could weigh in on it. Commissioner Paul Graupmann was not at Tuesday's meeting.

Commissioners tabled the proposal until their next regular meeting, on Nov. 3.

In discussion, county commissioners also raised questions about the future of funding support for MLCL and other libraries in the county.

"I would hope that, I think, with the resolution, if the city of Marshall goes along with it, that this would get us to at least that one-year contract that would get us where the five libraries can sit down . . . and figure out how we're going to do this," said Commissioner Rick Anderson.

Discussions about the MLCL budget have been going on since June, raper said Tuesday. The library, which historically has received two-thirds of its funding from the city of Marshall and one-third from Lyon County, requested a 6.8% funding increase for 2027. Draper said the requested increase broke down to an increase of $56,129 from the city of Marshall and an increase of $28,065 from the county.

Lyon County is currently under an agreement to provide at least $200,000 a year for MLCL funding, Draper said. The preliminary 2027 county budget that commissioners approved in September included an allotment of $306,000 for MLCL. Lyon County Administrator Loren Stomberg said that was about a 25% reduction from the previous year's county library funding.

"That amount could decrease, but if it were to increase more than the $306,000, we would have to take that somewhere out of our budget, and then we'd have shortages there," Draper said.

"There is a more generous appropriation to the library than there is to some of the other organizations in our preliminary levy," Stomberg said. For example, under the preliminary budget and levy, the Lyon County Museum's allocation would take a 50% cut.

MLCL has discussed taking cost-cutting steps like leaving staff positions unfilled and reducing hours of operation, library director Michele Leininger said last week. But even with those reductions, the library still faced a revenue shortfall of about $82,000 in 2027, she said.

To help meet that amount, Stomberg said he was offering the proposal for the county and the city of Marshall to commit additional funding over the city's library allocation. The county would commit one dollar for every additional $2 from the city, up to a maximum county commitment of $27,333.

"That would eliminate the shortfall for the Library Board. They would be able to meet their commitment to the cities of Cottonwood and Balaton," which have branch locations, Stomberg said. "We could find $27,000 in our budget out of a $20 million levy, we could make that work."

Commissioners at Tuesday's meeting had mixed responses to the proposal. Commissioner Thomas Andries said he wasn't in favor of adding more library funding, while Draper and Commissioner Gary Crowley said they were in favor of the proposal.

And beyond 2027, there were also questions about the future of Lyon County's support for the library.

Anderson said he and Crowley also met with representatives of the cities of Balaton and Cottonwood regarding their library locations.

"What we're just asking, as an olive branch, is an additional one-time funding that would pay for our librarians, so that it takes the pressure off of the city of Marshall and the library to buy one year," said Cottonwood City Administrator Teather Bliss. "They still have to, obviously, make cuts, but our request would just alleviate a little bit of pressure from their budget."

Anderson said that, while the county doesn't want to create the impression that they are against libraries. In addition to MLCL's three locations, the county also provides funding support for the Minneota and Tracy public libraries.

"We want the five libraries still to be able to work together," Anderson said. "I think, in the conversation that we had today and what I had yesterday, we probably know that this (library) agreement is probably going to go away."

Anderson said it seemed likely that Lyon County would shift toward providing the state-required minimum maintenance of effort funding for libraries. But it would be important to give communities like Balaton and Cottonwood time to figure out a plan for the future.