8/6/2008

Lewistown votes to join
county library funding district

by JIM DULLENTY
News-Argus Staff Writer

The Lewistown City Commission voted Monday night to join the multi-jurisdictional library funding district after several in the audience endorsed the proposal and after one commissioner said voting against it would deny voters a chance to decide the issue.

Commissioner Jack Phillips voted against it and Commissioner Larry Phillips was absent. The five others voted in favor, Guy Woodburn, Gary Landers, Darryl McKenzie, Nik Scebba and Patty Turk.

Woodburn said to the other commissioners, “If you don’t pass this, we are saying we are not giving voters a chance to say what they want.”

Jack Phillips said he was concerned the new library district would be dominated by rural interests. He said the commission established to run the district would have an imbalance of representatives favoring rural areas. He noted that members of the board who will run the multi-jurisdictional district will be appointed by county commissioners.

But nearly everyone else at Monday night’s meeting spoke in favor of the district, including David Sather Jr., a former city commissioner, who told the current commissioners, “This is great. This solves the problem. This will work.”

Carole Wicks, who served on the Ad Hoc Committee to study library funding established by the Fergus County Community Council, said representatives of the city and county commissions attended the Ad Hoc Committee’s meetings and watched the compromise unfold.

“A lot of study has gone into this proposal. It is a fair and equitable way of doing it. It will be easier for the city and for the county,” said Wicks.

If voters in the Nov. 4 general election approve the measure, a multi-jurisdictional district will be established covering all of Fergus County. All county households will be taxed 13 mills to support library funding. If the levy is approved, the county will end the $49,000 it currently pays the county’s four libraries from the county general fund.

The city also will end its contribution of $165,000 plus $5,000 for capital improvements. Because library officials say use of the Lewistown library is split 60 percent city residents and 40 percent county residents, the funding split will be 60 percent from the city and 40 percent from the county under the new plan.

That means that Lewistown will have to pay $82,900 from its general fund to the Lewistown library, according to Landers. The total city cost of supporting the library will be $156,000, and the county, $104,000. For city residents, however, the cost per household may slightly decrease under this plan – if the city reduces its taxes by the 13 mills.
The county, so far, has not indicated it will reduce its taxing of county residents by the 2 mills county residents currently are paying. County Commission Chairman Ken Ronish said several times at Ad Hoc Committee meetings the county may need that money for increasing fuel costs.

Although county residents will pay more – in the view of city commissioners, a fairer amount – the three rural libraries and the two school libraries in Roy and Grass Range stand to benefit from the proposal.

The Denton, Moore and Winifred libraries currently get $3,000 from the county. Under this plan, that would triple. Roy and Grass Range school libraries get no money from the county. If they wish, they could opt in and receive about $3,000 each annually, according to figures given the city commission by City Manager Kevin Myhre.

The 13-mill levy would raise about $210,600 of which $104,000 would go to the Lewistown library. At present, city residents each year are paying $59.00 each for the library; county residents are paying $4.31 each, according to Lewistown city figures. The new plan would change that to $34.87 per city resident and $26.66 for county residents.

Myhre said city households currently are being taxed about 30 mills for the library; that would go to 28 mills if the city reduces its general fund levy by 13 mills. So, for city households, he noted, there would not be new taxes for the library.

Woodburn called the funding proposal a “win-win situation.” He said it will result in more money for the city’s general fund and it will stabilize library funding for five years. Woodburn also suggested that for the 2008-2009 fiscal year, the city should increase library funding by about 3 percent. He said other service departments in the city are getting that increase.

Myhre said the other three towns in Fergus County whose libraries would benefit from the multi-jurisdictional district funding must vote to join the district or the plan will fail. He said all three towns were sent the information but he had not heard a response from them yet.

In other business . . .

The Commission approved applying for $28,000 in Community Transportation Enhancement Program (CTEP) funds to purchase and install trash barrels, benches and bike racks in downtown Lewistown. The Lewistown Rotary Club has agreed to donate $4,000 toward the project. The vote to apply for the CTEP funds was 6-0 in favor with Commissioner Larry Phillips absent.

Also approved at Monday night’s meeting was a contract with Interstate Engineering to begin preliminary engineering work on a new swimming pool for Lewistown and a policy for improving existing sidewalks around town. The city agrees, under the new policy, to pay for tearing up and removal of old sidewalks to be repaired. The vote on both measures was 6-0.