By Damakant Jayshi
The Marathon County Public Library’s requested budget passed this week without a supervisor’s proposed amendment – one that drew a strong reaction from residents and library officials.
Last year, the library’s budget was cut by $69,000. This year, there were attempts by some supervisors to limit the library’s resources again, in the name of reducing its reserve fund, but those efforts fizzled after intense backlash.
Supervisor David Baker had planned to introduce a resolution that critics saw as a backhanded attempt to reduce library funding. But in a subsequent post he wrote that he decided against doing so, blaming the media and social media for spreading “misinformation.”
“The resolution was the subject of a significant amount of confusion and misinformation on social media and in the press, leading to concern and anxiety among a substantial number of Marathon County residents,” Baker wrote, on his personal blog.
Baker had claimed that his proposal would increase the library tax levy, while saving taxpayers $165,000 in property taxes and “fully fund” the library’s 2024 budget using a combination of revenue and fund reserves. Critics have called his numbers “ridiculous” and “inaccurate.”
Fearing a repeat of attempts to reduce library funding, residents addressed several committee and board meetings leading up to Thursday’s budget decision. The Marathon County Public Library Alliance launched a petition last week on Fight for the First, urging supervisors not to defund the library. The petition garnered more than 1,000 signatures before it was forwarded to supervisors Thursday.
The petition came after reports that Supervisor Baker proposed dismantling the library system. Baker and some other supervisors – along with a number of residents – want some books removed or reshelved in the library. But many more residents called such attempts a threat to the First Amendment. The MCPL Board of Trustees declined to remove the books or impose a rating system after review committees recommended against such measures.
In her remarks to the county board last week, Library Board President Kari Sweeney said that some people assumed that the library was asking for a 12% increase in their funding for 2024. “In actuality, we are requesting a nearly identical request compared to last year,” said Sweeney. “The disparity comes from the previous years’ cuts that would not have been sustainable without back-filling from our reserve funds.”
The bulk of the MCPL’s funding has mostly been cut in the last five years, the data for which the budget document provides. This year’s proposed special purpose levy for the library is $3,603,220.
