The Rhinelander City Council has proposed a few changes in its portion of a contract involving the Rhinelander District Library.
This is a backdrop to ongoing negotiations between the library and the towns of Crescent, Newbold, Pelican and Pine Lake and the city that form the joint support and operational funding for the library. At this week's meeting, council member Alex Young says the towns have proposed some changes in the contract, he says based on how much new construction happens in the towns and city...
"The proposal that had come forward from the townships included a cap on the library appropriations from each municipality. But the cap was based on each municipality's share of the net new construction numbers which is part of the towns proposal..."
The city would like to pay based on a formula of the three most recent years of equalized valuation of all the municipalities, which he says smoothes out the process. He says one portion of the proposal would shift some of the costs from municipalities over the cap, to those under the cap. He says the Finance committee recommended not pursuing an overall cap on the library's budget, rather to send representatives to the annual arbitration hearing, which is a face-to-face meeting to work out the budget and costs. There are several other points under consideration.
Young says the municipalities will meet January 16 again to work toward language for a new contract for all of the parties to sign. The meeting Monday is at the Newbold town hall at 6:00 p.m. and is open to the public.
