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County looks at library options
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FarkRAPID CITY -- For Mark Kirkeby, the dispute over library services is like deja vu.
"If you were to pick up the Rapid City Journal, it's like a carbon copy of the exact year prior," said Kirkeby, a former county commissioner and current state legislator about the dispute between Pennington County and the Rapid City Public Library.
County residents are facing the prospect of paying a $70 annual fee next year to get a Rapid City library card unless a last-minute deal is reached between the county and the library. The library informed the county a couple of weeks ago that it would not renew the library services contract for a second year.
Kirkeby told his former commission colleagues on Tuesday that a cooperative agreement is just not workable, and it's time for the county to do something else.
"All you're getting is grief and aggravation," he said. "I'd encourage this board to pursue those other options that have been discussed, not only last year but in prior years."
Both sides have expressed a willingness to talk about a new contract but so far neither has stepped up to make an offer.
As a result, the county commission unveiled six possible options that could be pursued next year to offer library services for people who live near Rapid City.
The options include:
-- Partner with a school system.
-- Bond for a county owned/budgeted portion of a structure that could involve a joint powers agreement with some other entity.
-- Consider a library user district that might include several counties in the Black Hills area.
-- Push for a county sales tax to support all libraries. Kjerstad said he believes county residents who live outside city limits support 40 percent to 50 percent of Rapid City's budget through sales taxes paid to the city, though others believe city valuations support county budget services.
-- Buy a double-wide manufactured structure for a county library and put it on public property.
-- Use the extension building auditorium or some other structure on the Pennington County fairgrounds for a county library.
Commissioner Jim Kjerstad said the county is limited in the amount of funding it can provide for library services due to state law that caps property tax increases to 3 percent each year. While the county could vote to "opt out" of the tax lid, Kjerstad doesn't believe county taxpayers would support doubling or tripling the mill levy for library services.
The county budgeted $351,000 for the Rapid City library next year by dipping into a reserve fund for $21,000 that has been accumulating since the county's first opt out six years ago. Kjerstad said the county offered a $16,749 increase, about 5 percent, next year, but it was rejected.
And the county can't afford to pay $70 for each county cardholder, he said.
"They say we've got 8,400 cards. If we agree to $70 per card, that's $588,000," Kjerstad said.
Commissioners also question how many county cards are active, but have been unable to get information from the library, which has declined to provide usage numbers due to privacy concerns.
Kjerstad said the county has been told there are 8,000 to 9,000 county cards but has not been provided a basis for those numbers.
"Library cards as far as I know are non-renewable. Once you get one, you've got one. We do have a mobile population, so maybe 30 percent of the people are gone. We don't know for sure," Kjerstad said.
Commissioners delayed talking in detail about other options until it learns what the library board talks about during its 5:15 p.m. meeting this afternoon. Commissioner Ethan Schmidt held out hope that a deal could be reached before the end of the year.
"The door's open, as far as I'm concerned," Schmidt said.
Regardless of what happens with Rapid City, county residents can still use the Hill City, Keystone or Wall libraries. The $70 fee would only apply to getting a library card from the Rapid City library.
Voters twice mandated that the county provide library services. To do that, the county signed contracts with municipal libraries in Rapid City, Keystone, Hill City and Wall through 2006.
Last year, the county signed separate five-year contracts with Wall, Hill City and Keystone after negotiations with Rapid City bogged down.
Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415, or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com
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