County libraries receive funding increase

Antelope County has raised its annual financial contribution to the county library association for the first time in three years.

The board of commissioners approved an increase for each of the county’s six public libraries during its meeting Tuesday, Aug. 11, at the courthouse in Neligh.Board chair Charlie Henery, vice board chair Regina Krebs and commissioner Carolyn Pedersen voted in favor of the raise, while commissioner Dean Smith voted against it. Commissioner Eli Jacob was absent from the meeting.

With the passage of the increase, the libraries in Clearwater, Elgin, Oakdale, Orchard and Tilden each will receive $3,500 while Neligh’s library will receive $4,200 for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Members of the library association presented their annual library reports in June to the commissioners about each library’s activities and programs.

They also heard a request from the library association to increase funding by $500 for each of the county’s libraries.

Henery said at the time that the library association’s request would be considered during budget discussions for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

During the commissioners’ most recent meeting, Krebs noted the county’s individual financial contributions for the 2019-20 fiscal year varied for nearly each of its libraries:

-Clearwater: $2,662.50.

-Elgin: $3,053.12.

-Neligh: $3,494.

-Oakdale: $2,915.63.

-Orchard: $2,915.63.

-Tilden: $2,916.50.

“Some of them are at different rates,” Krebs said. “I’m not exactly sure how that happened, but I think we need to come in and equalize those.”

She noted the funding amounts she would recommend for each of the county’s libraries for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

“If we bring that in line at $3,500 for each of the smaller libraries, I think the corresponding amount would be $4,200 to Neligh,” Krebs said.

“That’s still a pretty good-sized raise,” Henery said.

Krebs noted the 2020-21 budgeted amount should not be much more than the 2019-20 budgeted amount.

“It’s essentially kind of distributing out what we were paying for Brunswick, I believe,” Krebs said. “I haven’t looked at it.

“I suppose between Orchard and Neligh and the other libraries, they’re probably picking up some of that,” she said.

According to a December 2019 announcement at libraries.ne.gov/brunswick/, the Brunswick Public Library officially closed its doors permanently.

The future of the library was up in the air after a termite infestation was found inside the Brunswick Auditorium – where the library was housed – during July 2019.

However, according to the library’s announcement, a suitable location for the library could not be found so it could not remain open.

As far as the county’s funding for its libraries for the 2020-21 fiscal year, Krebs said, “Basically it’s just a redistribution of the same dollars.”

Henery asked for a motion on increasing the county’s annual contribution to its libraries. Krebs made the motion, which was seconded by Pedersen.

“Is this their only source of funding?” Smith asked.

“It’s actually a very small portion of their funding sources – in most libraries that I’ve seen anyway for the villages,” Krebs said.

“When was the last time there was an increase?” Smith asked.

Payne noted there hasn’t been an increase since 2017, which she recalled was $200 per library.

“It’s been several years,” Krebs said.

“That’s a pretty big jump,” said Smith, who gave no reason during the meeting for voting against the increase.

After the meeting, Smith noted the increase was too much at one time, in his opinion.

“It was just a relatively large increase compared to where we’d been at,” Smith said.