Oconto County residents continue to rack up sizable fees for borrowing materials from the Brown County Library.
Oconto County will pay $98,363 to Brown County as reimbursement for 2013 library check-outs made by Oconto County library patrons at a Brown County branch.
In setting the amount to charge, Brown County officials concluded that library patrons loaned 2.3 million items in 2013, corresponding to just over $3 per loan. Oconto County residents checked out nearly 46,000 items.
State law allows Brown County to bill Oconto County for 70 percent of the cost of the check-out services provided.
The 2013 invoice, received by Oconto County on May 14, must be paid by March 1. The charges are passed along to taxpayers via the county portion of the tax bill, which is sent to residents in December.
Antigo also charges Oconto County for library usage; the amount is much less, about $600.
It will be the third year the county will pay the fees to Brown County, ever since Brown County took advantage of a 2006 state law that allows it to charge residents in an adjacent county for library services.
For library loans in 2012, Brown County determined charges at approximately $2.90 per Brown County loan and requested $117,302 for check-outs that Oconto County library users made.
For check-outs that Oconto County library users made in 2011 at the Brown County Library, Brown County determined charges at approximately $2.95 per Brown County loan and requested $125,913.
Oconto County and local library officials responded by sending a mass mailing to residents alerting them of the Brown County fees and promoting the use of Oconto County libraries in other ways. They’ve also talked with legislators, asking for changes in state statutes regarding library fees.
Residents in municipalities that maintain a public library are exempt from the charges. Exempt in Oconto County are taxpayers in the cities of Gillett, Oconto and Oconto Falls, the village of Lena and the town of Lakewood, which operate their own libraries, and the five municipalities that operate the Suring branch: Bagley, Breed, How, Maple Valley and the village of Suring.
Several Oconto County libraries pursued partnerships with the neighboring municipalities in order to provide better library services to the rural communities and to exempt these residents from charges from out-of-county library systems. The Lena Library, for example, is finalizing an agreement with the village and town of Lena in which the town would become the village’s 50 percent partner to operate the Lena Public Library.
Lena Library Director Becky Bartell said the library is vastly underfunded now, and the town’s support is crucial to its future.
“It will be absolutely fabulous for this little library to have that happen, almost hinging on survival,” she said.
The library has an operating budget of about $70,000.
According to Oconto County Administrative Coordinator Kevin Hamann, Oconto County spends about $500,000 to support its six libraries in the county, which includes usage fees to Brown County and Antigo.
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