The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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June 7, 2012

Our View: Library decision puts onus on county, users

The Free Press

— Users of the Blue Earth County library in Mankato will be better served in the long run as a result of a decision by the county and the city to forego a joint powers agreement aimed at creating what seemed like a hard-to-define decisionmaking consistent with funding.

The city and county have been attempting to hammer out a joint powers agreement that would essentially give the city of Mankato more influence over library decisions consistent with its annual contribution of $516,000.

But a tentative agreement apparently was not embraced by members of the City Council. A new agreement would likely have required the city to pay about $120,000 more per year, a 23 percent increase, to have the same representation on the joint powers board as the county. That increase in city funding would then equal the amount the county pays to operate the library and fund its maintenance.

Of course, such an increase in funding would likely have raised city taxes, so it appears now the city will simply turn over its $516,000 levy to the county. There will be no impact on taxpayers as the city will reduce its levy, but the county will simply re-assess it on city taxpayers only. So the only change will be in who collects the money.

The idea of establishing a joint powers board stemmed from the desire on the part of the city to have more say in how the library should be run. Some councilmembers thought the county should be spending more on materials.

The city continues to consider the idea of additional funding through a grant program that would be awarded to any library that was serving Mankato users. That mechanism might allow the city to have more influence on library funding.

But in the end, it is the county who should be responsive to library users in terms of services offered and materials purchased. As always, the county could be more attentive to user needs and perhaps even set up an advisory committee or use the current Library Board to advise the county on new approaches and funding priorities.

Government works best when it is responsive to taxpayers who ultimately should have the most influence on how their money is spent.

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