The agenda item that filled many of the back chairs of the Clark County Board room focused on the 2025 Library portion of the 2025 Budget. During the public comment period Librarian Sue Bedroske stood up first and spoke to the potential cut to the Dorchester Public Library. 

 “I'm here on behalf of the Dorchester Public Library,” she began. “Our funding for next year is being cut quite significantly. The original budget for the coming year for the first time, we were cut $14,839 from this year to next year, with our budget of less than $74,000 its almost a 20% cut. With the proposal from the finance committee that's going to be introduced tonight, we're still going to be cut over $10,000, which is 12% of our budget, which is a huge, huge, huge hit, and one that I'm not sure that Dorchester can sustain. So, what we're looking at is maybe not being able to have the Dorchester Public Library for much longer, if this continues. Thank you for your time.”

Colby Librarian Vickie Calmes was next to speak and described the inadequacy of the state funding formula and the inequality of the Marathon County library agreement with the county. “We're part of a seven-county consortium that serves libraries including Clark County. Colby, along with Abbotsford and Dorchester, has the unique situation of straddling a county line as a public library. We must offer our services free to anyone who enters our doors, regardless of where they reside, and our cost for circulation is the same whether we're serving a Clark County patron or a Marathon County patron. 

“The state funding formula is difficult to understand. Somehow, somewhere, somebody thought that paying 70% of what it costs to serve a patron was a good idea. It's archaic, and it does not serve our communities well today. When you think of it, is there any other county department that is working at 70% of funding? Libraries have been for a long time. So, by cutting our Marathon County reimbursement, which is on the floor as a decision to be made, the Clark County Board is not punishing Marathon County for entering our doors or for daring to cross that line. The services we provide, the books we offer, the programs we host, help both Clark County and Marathon County at the same time. If money for Marathon County is cut. Clark County also feels that hurt. 

“Sue addressed the Dorchester situation. I would like Dorchester to remain open, my city, as the school in which Dorchester students attend. People come to my town. I don't really have the capacity to serve her patrons if Dorchester is forced to close because of funding issues, and I especially don't need the Marathon County people from Dorchester coming down, because if that, if that funding is cut, nobody's paying for that. So, the finance committee wants us to open a conversation with Marathon County, which we are more than happy to do, but please remember in the back of your minds that Marathon County is a consolidated library. They can charge you in Clark County for serving Clark County patrons, but they don't have to pay a cent to Clark County. They're consolidated. They're a county wide library, so we are really going to be strapped for funding if Clark County decides that helping us provide services to everyone in our area should be cut by not helping us with Marathon County circulation money.”

Chairperson of the Clark County Library Committee Bryce Luchterhand talked about the library’s portion of the county budget and thanked the executive committee and the finance committee for their efforts to understand how and why the county plays a role in financing the 10 libraries in the county. 

“Tonight, we're going to be presented with a plan by the finance committee that addresses their concerns. It offers six of our 10 libraries modest increases in reimbursement over what they were paid last year, but it does so by reducing the reimbursement to four libraries, two with cuts of approximately $11,000 each. And you heard that that's going to be to Dorchester. Under the finance committee's proposal, six libraries gain, four libraries lose. Please understand that, as Vicki told you, any reduction to a Clark County library will have negative effects for Clark County residents. We hope to see a better plan than that emerge from here tonight. It is a plan where no library gets an increase from last year and no library gets a decrease. Your choice is going to be between those two plans. The cost is the same for either one. They both run $13,160 some dollars. One will cause great damage, the other will cause no damage. The people you see here tonight support us from all over the county. No one wants to see any library unnecessarily hurt. I want to thank you, but I wonder would supporters of our libraries please stand?” To this request over about a dozen guests who filled the back rows stood in support. 

Terri Domaszek presented the 2025 Budget proposed by the Finance Committee comprised of Chairman Chuck Reuth, Duane Boon, Ken Gerhardt, Duwayne Trunkel and Tom Wilcox. Ultimately, the budget was approved with an amendment to the library budget funding that the county libraries agreed with. Domaszek explained that some libraries members met with the Finance Committee on Oct. 15, 2024, regarding the percentage of funding. The amendment proposed which passed this night increased the following: instead of funding 90% in county and 25% for Marathon County residents, the formula changed to 85% and 45% respectively, the tax rate changed from 6.803145 to 6.807021, on a $100,000 home a difference of .39 cents. It was agreed that the Marathon County agreement will be investigated further to create a more equitable solution.