Negotiations could put Great Falls library funding on the chopping block

GREAT FALLS — Negotiations are ongoing between representatives of the city administration and the Great Falls Public Library that could change the library’s management and funding. 

The negotiations began this spring, less than a year after Great Falls voters passed a library funding measure in June 2023. That successful campaign, juxtaposed against the unsuccessful public safety levy measure later in 2023, looms over the library discussions today.

One outcome of the negotiations could be the reallocation of nearly $1 million from the library’s budget to support public safety services.

“The proposal by the City Commission to renegotiate the library service agreement by reallocating funds undermines the trust that voters placed in us,” Great Falls Public Library Board Chairperson Whitney Olson said in a written statement provided to Montana Free Press.

City Commission comments earlier this year initiated the library negotiations. Those comments go as far back as Jan. 16, when Commissioner Rick Tryon said he wanted to examine existing city budget resources to boost public safety funding. During a retreat in Fort Benton in April, commissioners solidified plans to take another look at the library’s funding and management.

That kicked off months of negotiations, which have included City Manager Greg Doyon, City Commissioners Joe McKenney and Susan Wolfe, City Attorney David Dennis and Finance Director Melissa Kinzler representing the city administration. Representing the library are Director Susie McIntyre, board members Olson and Anne Bulger and attorney Bill Bronson. Bronson is also a former city commissioner and current school board trustee.

Discussions have been wide-ranging, according to Doyon, and are largely focused on a brief 1993 agreement that outlines the library’s administrative structure. It says that the library director acts as a de facto department head who reports to the city manager. In practice, the role is different from other department heads, as the library director also reports to a board that has the ability to levy taxes.

The 1993 agreement also laid out a funding framework and authorized at least seven mills to support the library. For more than 30 years, that has been the foundation of the facility’s budget, and library supporters hope to protect that portion.

For years, the vast majority of Great Falls Public Library funding came from a few different sources. In addition to the seven mills of the 1993 agreement, the library received two mills as set out in the city charter. Prior to 2023, the library also received a subsidy from the city’s general fund that was capped at $350,000 annually.

The 2023 levy campaign changed the city charter provision from two mills to 17, which doubled the library’s operating budget to just over $3 million. As part of the successful levy campaign, the library dropped the $350,000 general fund subsidy.

Since the levy passed, the library has expanded its operation to seven days per week, increased digital offerings and bookmobile service and restarted a homebound service for people with limited mobility.

Now that 17 mills are cemented in the city charter, the seven mills from the 1993 agreement have become targets for negotiation. Based on the most recent mill value, that amounts to about $925,000. 

“Public safety is indeed a critical issue, and we fully support efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of our community,” Olson’s statement said in part. “However, we believe that these efforts should not come at the expense of the library’s ability to fulfill its obligations to the voters.” 

Those seven mills could be redirected toward the city’s public safety resources. The success of the spring 2023 library levy is often compared to the failure of the fall 2023 public safety levy.

“The library levy came up, and the community decided they wanted a vibrant, successful library, and that passed,” McKenney told MTFP. “And then the public safety levy came up, and it was a really big ask.”

The big ask arose out of a big need. There hasn’t been a substantial public safety funding measure in Great Falls since the 1960s when a general obligation bond measure led to the construction of four fire stations and a training center.

The funding and staffing situations for fire, police, and court services in Great Falls have been described by city officials as dire. One example is that the city has grown in size by more than 40%, and Great Falls Fire Rescue serves the area with a declining number of firefighters. The public safety levy, which amounted to around $13 million annually, would have added firefighters, police officers, court resources, building improvements and equipment to city departments.

That measure failed in November with nearly two-thirds of voters against it. 

“The timing could not have been worse for us,” former Mayor Bob Kelly told the Great Falls Tribune at the time.

After the June 2023 success of the library levy, homeowners were hit with sticker shock on a new round of home appraisals from the Montana Department of Revenue. The median value of residential property in Cascade County increased by 38%, bringing property tax concerns to the front of political discussions.

By November 2023, it was a tough environment for the public safety levy. The request would have increased property taxes by hundreds of dollars on most homes.

So, the difficult discussion of how to fund public safety continued into 2024 and put library funding in the crosshairs. A Public Safety Advisory Committee created in the wake of the public safety levy specifically suggested reallocating the library’s seven mills toward public safety departments.

All of these factors hang over the library negotiations, which remain ongoing but are close to wrapping up, according to Doyon. There isn’t a set deadline to finish discussions, and any action will require approval by the city commission.

In-depth, independent reporting on the stories impacting your community from reporters who know your town.