Scott Aust, Journal staff | Posted: Monday, October 8, 2007 11:00 pm
|
RAPID 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
