Marshall-Lyon County Library says upcoming budget could affect services

Upcoming budget choices could affect the services provided by the Marshall-Lyon County Library; County Commissioners were told during a budget proposal presentation by the Marshall-Lyon County Library staff at the July 5 meeting.
Director Michele Leininger presented two drafts to the board. The first was a baseline draft if all services remained the same. The draft budget called for a 7.6 percent increase in revenues, including a 7.9 percent increase in funds from both the City of Marshall and Lyon County. The amount requested from Lyon County would be $375,784, or $27,536 more than 2022. The baseline draft budget also called for a total expense increase of 7.6 percent, or $82,515 over 2022. This increase includes a 12.5 percent salary increase for full time employees and a 12.4 percent increase for part time employees. Total expenses for the library were budgeted at $1,175,065.
Leininger also presented a 3.5 percent draft budget to the commissioners as previous discussion had looked at that percentage. In this draft budget, the library would request an increase of 3.3 percent from both the City of Marshall and Lyon County. Lyon County’s contribution would be $359,713, an increase of $11,465. This 3.5 percent draft budget predicted a total revenue increase of 3.1 percent and a total expense increase of 3.1 percent as well. The draft budget kept the same 12.5 percent salary increase in full time employees. However, salaries for part time employees would decrease by 5.3 percent.
The decrease in part time employee salary would be because the library would look at eliminating its outreach services. Currently, the library budget is 80 percent staff and 20 percent operating budget. By eliminating the outreach services, it would not have the cost of the staff hours attributed to delivering materials, the van and other related costs to the service.
Currently, the county delivers to 23 daycares, half of which are in Marshall, as well as eight senior facilities — seven in Marshall and one in Balaton. There is also delivery to 14 home bound patrons. The number of patrons receiving outreach service does vary on the time of the year, with fewer deliveries in the summer. The outreach service would be switched to a volunteer program, or daycares and facilities could come to the library to pick up their collections.
When reviewing the budget, the salary increases were questioned by the board.
“When you start giving $12.55 pay increases and you start reducing services, I do have some problems,” Commissioner Charlie Sanow said. “It just seems out of whack for me.”
“There was a class and comp study handled by the city,” Leininger said. “They did compare us to 10 or 12 like cities in size and the library when you compare just to those areas, we were in the middle. In the number of staff, we were a little higher than average, and in salaries we were about average. Part of the reason it had to have such a large jump is that the library has been lagging behind to what other increases have happened, not only in the city but in private business as well. In the last couple of years, it’s been a real struggle to get quality candidates at what we were paying. With this increase, we are on an even keel with other competitors.”
Sanow asked for the list of cities in which the comp study compared Marshall.
“I hate to see you cut services, number one,” Commissioner Gary Crowley said. “You look at the pay increase, and I understand you probably don’t think you’ve been compensated enough over the years, but I think maybe you could look at that and cut that back a little bit so you don’t have to lose the services. That’s my opinion.”
In addition to the draft budgets from the library, the board started early preliminary discussions on the 2023 budget. County staff asked for direction from the board as it starts to develop the budget. The board discussed the increased cost of budget items such as fuel, squad vehicles, payroll, etc.
“Looking at the past, we’ve been around one to two percent levy and that’s a good level,” Sanow said. “But we do realize that we negotiated wages and right now, unless they change, they’re going to be at a 3 percent increase across the board for everybody. So, I wouldn’t think with the cost of fuel, electricity, heat and all the other supplies we have to take care of, we’re going to have a hard time keeping it less than 3 percent. It would be nice if we could hit the 3 percent level but we’re not going to be able to hit the 1 to 2 percent level like we have in the past. Inflation is not going to let that happen.”
“I would like a good list from all the department heads as to what we’re looking at for expenditures for 2023,” Commissioner Rick Anderson said.
“I think 3 to 4 percent is realistic,” Chair Steve Ritter said. “Hopefully we can get it to 3%.”
“I think we’re going to have to start with probably a 5 percent and work down,” Anderson said.
“I think we need to look at what comes in for expenditures.” Ritter added. “Every $150,000 for a piece of equipment is 1 percent.”

In other board news:
• Lyon County received the Connecting People to the Outdoors grant from the Greater Minnesota Parks and trails Commission for the purchase of the iPaddlePort System in the amount of $29,704 to be used for a system at Twin Lakes. The grant requires a match of $3,300. However, since the grant was submitted, the price of the system has increased. The difference between the grant and the total cost is $7,607.50. The board voted to take the extra needed for the project from the Garvin Park Trust.
• County Environmental Director Roger Schroeder recognized several groups and individuals that helped with organizing and clean up at Garvin Park following recent storms. Those Schroeder acknowledged at the board meeting included Becki Johnson and her help securing assistance from Boy Scout Troops 238, 320 and Pack 25. He also acknowledged help from Jeremy Trulock, Jim Reinert and employees from US Bank.
• The board discussed the water storage grant on County Ditch 14 that was awarded to the county. The grant is in the amount of $340,940.81. It requires a 25% match, or $85,235.20. The match requirement will come from contributions from landowners. There is hope the project will start this fall, but no bidding or work can begin until the county receives the grant agreement.
• The board approved the final payment for SP 042-602-032 to Duininck in the amount of $29,357.77. This was a federally-funded project that paved CSAH 2 from Lincoln County to Redwood County in 2021.
• The board accepted the 2022 State DNR Boat Safety Grant in the amount of $2,252. The grant can be used to promote boat safety with education and enforcement. The majority of the grant will go toward deputy wages with portions being used for life vest purchases and maintaining current equipment.
• The board discussed hiring an outside council for drainage matters since County Attorney Rick Maes is not running for reelection. Maes said he would be willing to help the next county attorney get acclimated on a consultant basis.
• The board approved the hiring of Mitchell Rolling as a Correctional Officer and Kaitlyn Timm as an On-Call Correctional Officer, each at the rate of $21.02 per hour.