Budget includes exemption of county library expenditures from levy limits

Late last year, WLA met with Department of Administration officials to seek an exemption of county library expenditures from any levy limits imposed in the next biennium. The executive budget released in February contains such an exemption, although WLA will seek an adjustment to the language that will clarify that state statutes require that county payments be made to public libraries (not to the counties themselves) and that payments to libraries both within and across county borders be covered by this exemption. A March 2 article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel describes how the bill would affect libraries in several counties.