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Great River Regional Library board adopts flat 2026 budget; Morrison County share rises to $528,428
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Summary
Great River Regional Library officials presented the system's adopted 2026 budget to the Morrison County Board of Commissioners, explaining a modest systemwide spending plan that nonetheless shifts county shares because of a three-part allocation formula and a planned drawdown of reserves.
Great River Regional Library Executive Director Karen Poncecki told the Morrison County Board of Commissioners that the regional library board adopted a $10,570,000 budget for 2026 and expects Morrison County’s contribution to be $528,428, an increase of $13,082 (2.54%).
Poncecki said the six-county joint powers system uses a three-part formula — net tax capacity, county population and library borrowers — to allocate signatory contributions and that even a flat overall budget can change county shares year to year. Amy Anderson, associate director of accounting, said the 2026 plan uses about $490,000 of reserves as part of a multi-year spend-down strategy, compared with $623,000 used last year.
The presentation included system-level and county-level per-capita comparisons. Statewide spending per capita on library services is $48.59, Great River’s systemwide figure is $20.43 per capita and Morrison County’s per-capita figure was reported as $15.43. Poncecki said the system emphasizes an equity-of-service approach so smaller branches receive the same types of services as larger libraries, though scale and equipment differ.
Commissioners asked about reserve levels and federal funding risks. Anderson said the system policy targets roughly three months of reserves; current excess reserves were characterized as less than one month and the board heard a figure of about 3.92 months of reserves overall. Commissioners and library staff discussed federal support that flows through Minitex; Anderson said the direct federal amount to the system is approximately $7,000 but that larger federal support to Minitex underpins interlibrary loan and statewide delivery services that the region relies on.
Poncecki also noted operational details: Great River runs 32 libraries and a locker system under a joint powers agreement dating to 1969; individual cities often provide building space while the system runs services and collections. The board thanked library staff for the presentation and for Morrison County’s participation in the regional agreement.
Looking ahead, library staff said they will monitor federal and state funding developments, since loss of some federal support could force the system to absorb additional costs to preserve services such as interlibrary loan and electronic databases.
Morrison County commissioners did not take a separate vote on county contribution during the presentation; county staff later noted that the county contribution decreased $3,751 last year before the 2026 allocation figures were presented.
