Library budget in limbo after arbitration meeting

Representatives of the municipalities that make up the Rhinelander Library District – Pine Lake, Pelican, Newbold, Crescent and the City of Rhinelander – met at the library on Tuesday Oct. 27 to finalize the library’s 2027 budget. After a tense discussion, Newbold Town Chairman Dan Hess, who chaired the meeting, made a motion to “keep the budget share at 2026 levels.” The motion passed on a vote of 4-0-1 (the city’s representative, interim administrator Adam Gitter, abstained). However, almost immediately after the meeting adjourned, library officials indicated the vote was invalid and another meeting must be scheduled to finalize the budget. The issue, according to library director Virginia Roberts, is that the district members are not allowed to set their individual share of the annual budget and the wording of Hess’s motion was “to keep the budget share at 2026 levels.”

According to Roberts, the contract between the library and the members of the district allows the members to set the final budget number, not their individual share of it. In other words, the members must vote on a total budget amount for 2027. That number could be the same as the total budget amount set in the 2026 budget cycle, but a motion setting each town’s individual “share” of the total budget is not permitted.

It’s unclear when the second meeting will be scheduled. Roberts indicated it is not likely to take place until after the library’s board of trustees meets on Nov. 11. In a phone conversation with the Star Journal, Hess indicated that he would seek to schedule the hearing promptly and hopes it will take place in early to mid November. If a second meeting is needed to clarify the members’ intentions, Hess said he is happy to schedule one, but indicated it’s unlikely that the town representatives will vary from their position that they cannot afford any increase for the library this year.

Hess’s motion came after nearly an hour of back-and-forth between Roberts and the town representatives, all of whom said proposed library increases would force cuts to roads, equipment and fire protection.

The library’s proposed 2027 budget totals $1,072,590. Roberts told the group that once insurance figures came in, the proposed increase dropped to about 2%.

She said the library board had sent a higher original figure because insurance costs were not yet known, calling it “the beginning of a discussion.”

“I knew it was going to not be a pleasant experience for any of us,” she said.

‘Something’s got to change’

Hess pressed Roberts on staffing, volunteers and reserve funds.

“I still think you’re missing the boat on efficiency here,” he said.

Hess said Newbold recently had to cut $85,000 from its budget, drawing on carryover accounts and cutting into road work. He put Newbold’s share of the library increase at about $16,000.

“The library is the cornerstone of our community; it has been forever,” Hess said. “But we’ve got to come up with a different way to get money here, and not just do the status quo.”

He noted that other libraries use volunteers. He suggested the library cut one to one and a half full-time equivalent positions, recruit volunteers and consider high school interns.

Town of Pelican Chairman Nick Scholtes described a two-person road crew, a broken patrol truck that will cost $135,000 to $140,000 to replace with a used model, and a bridge project that “ran over $155,000.” He said the town’s volunteer fire department is running on equipment more than 30 years old.

“It’s not that the town doesn’t want to help,” Scholtes said. “It’s just we have so many pressures coming from all directions right now.”

Jen Cordy, town supervisor for Pine Lake, said this year’s increase would put her town in a deficit. She said Pine Lake already borrows to keep its roads and equipment up to date and urged “empathy both ways” among towns, school districts and the library.

Town of Crescent supervisor Mike Pazdernik said towns gained only a little over $4,000 in additional levy capacity this year under state limits. He said Crescent will not take money from its fire department or roads, and will have “a hard time giving the library an increase at all this year.”

Library defends staffing

Roberts said the library has 18 employees, of whom she believes 12 are full time. Part-time pages and staff work 8 to 25 hours a week. Staffing stands at 13.38 full-time equivalents, she said, compared with a 25-year average of 13.29. With sick time and vacations, she said, the library typically has about 13.15 FTEs on hand in a given week.

The library has two vacancies, and she plans to fill at least one.

“We do need these folks to provide services,” she said, adding that the children’s room was packed that day and every table upstairs was full.

Roberts said she once ran a library with 60 volunteers and found the arrangement unsustainable. She said volunteers require training and supervision, and must learn library privacy rules, which she compared to hospital privacy.

“They show up when they want. They leave when they want,” she said of volunteers.

Board of Trustees member Eileen Daniel said finding volunteers is “one of the hardest parts” for area nonprofits. She said a library may not be the right place to rely on them.

Another speaker raised liability concerns about volunteers. Hess and Cordy said existing liability insurance would cover them.

Asked about reserves, Roberts said the library’s fund balances pay for building needs such as 100-year-old stairs, the roof and air conditioning, along with retirement and technology funds. Board-controlled accounts hold donations, she said. Many are designated for specific uses, such as a holiday book fund or the building project. Grants are deposited there and matched with municipal funds.

Rentals questioned

The library owns a roughly 100-year-old house behind its building and a 60-year-old former dental building. Roberts said both are held for a planned expansion that the library foundation is raising money for. The rentals cover their costs but do not turn a profit, she said. She hopes to have the dental building rented within the next few weeks.

Funding formula next

Hess said the district agreement among the municipalities is coming up for renewal and called the current funding formula “a mess.” He proposed basing each municipality’s share on a percentage of its levy, so library funding would rise with assessed value.

“I don’t think any of the towns are in favor of pulling out of the contract,” he said.

Roberts said state levy limits had thrown the formula “out of whack.” She said rewriting the formula alone would not fix that, and that she has advocated for levy limit changes for years.

The process will start with the library board, she said. Hess said he would contact her to schedule that meeting, possibly after the holidays.

Equalized value error

Early in the budget presentation, a Pine Lake resident said the figures listed the town’s equalized value at about $640.9 million rather than about $641.8 million. That meant the formula as presented was incorrect.

Roberts said she had updated all values and did not know why the old figure appeared. “If we do have corrections, please let me know,” she said, adding that hearing about them in the newspaper “isn’t always helpful.”

Petra Pietrzak, a Newbold town supervisor and library trustee from 2022 to 2025, distributed a handout using state Department of Public Instruction data from 382 Wisconsin public libraries. Personnel costs range from 14% to 93% of those libraries’ operating budgets, she said. Rhinelander ranks 12th highest statewide, she said, and first among 21 libraries with operating budgets of about $1 million.

“This is something that the library board should look at,” she said.

Roberts has disputed the calculations provided by Pietrzak because she used the AI program ChatGPT to prepare the handout.