Chairman says town will propose new library funding agreement

Grafton Town Chairman Lester Bartel said last week that the town will have a proposal to fund the Grafton public library by next month — ahead of the June deadline when the town’s long-standing partnership with the village ends.

“We think we have come up with something good for us and good for the library,” he said.

However, Bartel refused to say Monday how the proposal would differ from the expiring arrangement that divides the town’s and village’s contributions according to the number of cardholders from each municipality, stating, “there are too many things in flux.”

The town announced last year it would leave the library agreement because of year-over-year increases to the library budget. Bartel said at the time the agreement also makes it difficult for the town to budget as it finds out its share of the cost at the end of year, right during budget season.

Library Director Amanda Kloppmann said on Tuesday that she was “very pleased” to hear the town plans to come to the table.

However, Kloppmann said, she was not sure what system for determining contributions could be more fair but was open to the town’s ideas.

“Town library cardholders represented 23% — aligning with the percentages for population, circulation and program attendance,” she said. “Interestingly, every analysis I conducted comparing town usage to village usage consistently resulted in a 23% to 77% split.”

Leaving the agreement would make the town an “unlibraried” community responsible for a county tax based on the number of check-outs by residents at libraries in the Monarch Federated Library System.

Since that tax revenue would be split between all the libraries in Ozaukee, Sheboygan and Washington counties that had checkouts on Town of Grafton library cards, the library would not receive the entirety of the town’s library contribution.

The town budgeted $30,000 less this year to account for the switch to the county system — totaling $70,000 less than it would have paid if it remained in the agreement through the year.

Kloppmann said it is also important that a new agreement is brokered to continue the town’s representation on the library board, where it has two of the board’s seven seats.

Bartel said there is “a lot of misinformation going around” about the town leaving the agreement.

“The budget for the library went up 15% for three years in a row,” he said. “That was a lot for us.”

The town left the agreement to get its concerns heard by the library, Bartel said, which up to that point had been met with deaf ears.

“There are a few ways to get someone’s attention,” he said.

In preparation for the town’s exit, Kloppmann cut the library’s budget for repairs, books, media and programming.

She also shifted most part-time employees to flexible schedules to save money. Kloppmann said the change cost the library one employee, who now serves as a substitute worker to fill gaps in schedules.