Polk County committee clarifies library reimbursement language, sends plan to county board

The Polk County library services committee opened a public hearing on the proposed 2025–2029 Polk County Plan of Library Services and voted to send a revised draft to the county board for consideration in April.

The committee’s advisor, John Thompson of the Indian Head Federated Library System, told the group the draft incorporated mostly housekeeping updates — a table of contents, updated circulation data from 2024 annual reports and corrected legal names for libraries — and that the request for the statutory reimbursement rate in the plan remains the same as the prior plan. Thompson said the draft continues to request 100% reimbursement in its language even though the county has budgeted a 95% reimbursement rate in recent years.

The committee approved a single, narrowly targeted wording change to Section 4, priority A. The change clarifies that the 100% reimbursement language applies to “each library established under chapter 43 of Wisconsin statutes whose municipality is located in whole or in part in Polk County,” a phrasing intended to make clear that villages spanning county lines — notably Turtle Lake — are included in Polk County’s reimbursement model.

Committee members discussed how inter-county reimbursements are handled. Thompson said Turtle Lake’s Polk County nonresident circulation was 7,293 checkouts and that the packet shows a cost-per-circulation figure listed as 848; in discussion staff clarified that figure refers to $8.48 per circulation. At 100% reimbursement for the 7,293 items, Thompson estimated a payment of about $61,874 for those uses. He also noted Polk County paid $35,368 in 2024 for reimbursements and roughly $26,198 the prior year.

Supervisor Kim Okonnell and others asked whether neighboring counties also reimburse libraries for resident use; committee members said the neighboring county (transcript spelling: Baron County) reimburses Turtle Lake proportionally for the uses of its residents and that the proposed wording would align Polk County’s plan with common statewide practice.

Thompson said the library services committee will present the plan at the April general-government (Jengov) meeting and that the statutorily required resolution to adopt the plan will be on the county board agenda at the county board’s April meeting.

The committee closed the public hearing by voice vote, then moved and approved a motion to revise the draft with the wording change discussed (Section 4 A) and forward the plan to the county board for approval. The motion carried by voice vote. No formal roll-call tally was provided in the transcript.

What's next: the committee will present the plan to the April Jengov meeting; the county board is scheduled to consider the statutory resolution and adoption later in April.