The Great Falls Public Library board has called a special meeting for Sept. 5 to consider the renegotiation of its agreement with the City of Great Falls.

The city and library have been operating under a 1993 agreement that includes seven mills of funding for the library.

Those seven mills were included in the library’s funding package proposal for the library levy and those details were included in multiple library public meetings and presented to commissioners who voted to send the levy to the ballot.

In January, Commissioner Rick Tryon proposed taking those seven mills from the library to be used toward public safety after the city’s public safety levy failed in November.

Public safety committee continuing discussion of city’s funding options, needs

Initially, commissioners did not support that move, but in March, the city requested that the library board open the current agreement for negotiations to find possible sources of funding for public safety.

The seven mills in the library management agreement have also been a point of discussion by the city’s public safety advisory committee this summer.

The city’s negotiation team included City Manager Greg Doyon, City Attorney David Dennis and City Commissioners Joe McKenney and Susan Wolff.

The library’s team included Director Susie McIntyre, library board members Whitney Olson and Anne Bulger and the board’s attorney Bill Bronson.

Library continuing improvements, management agreement discussion

Those teams have been meeting since March and on Aug. 28, the city’s team presented their “last, best, final offer,” according to the library.

During the Sept. 5 meeting, the library board will discuss the city’s proposal and the library teams proposal.

During the Aug. 27 library board meeting, Olson and McIntyre said there were no details of the negotiations to publicly share.

In an Aug. 31 email, the library shared the details of the proposals.

The city’s Aug. 28 offer cuts the seven mills in the existing agreement to 3.5 mills for the next two fiscal years and then eliminates those mills for the library. The offer names the library director as an administrative liaison, removing the position as a city department head.

In their documents for the library board’s Sept. 5 special meeting, the library negotiating team wrote, “we are disappointed by what appears to be the view of a majority of the current city commission to ignore the will of the voters. This decision by the city commission is a bait-and-switch. They told the voters that these mills would be used to increase the library’s hours and programs, but now they are retracting their promise and using these funds to shore up their budget, knowing that the take-back will not be sufficient to address their stated public safety needs. With this proposal, the library will not be able to meet its promises to voters because the commission is reneging on its commitment to the library and the Great Falls community. There is no doubt that it will lead to cuts in services, hours, and programs.”

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In the current fiscal year, which began July 1, the seven mills through the agreement are projected to generate $842,8000 for the library, or 27 percent of the library’s budget.

In June 2023, voters approved an amendment to the city charter, increasing the allowable mills for the library from two to 17.

Those two mills had been in place since 2000 when Great Falls voters approved an amendment to the city charter to levy those mills specifically for the library.

Library staff and board members said the increased funding would allow for expanded hours, programs and services and the staff needed to support those programs.

Great Falls Public Library expands hours with levy funds; discusses management agreement

When the library began their levy effort, the increase to 17 mills was estimated to generate another $1.5 million for library operations, but it was a reappraisal year for the Montana Department of Revenue and for many, property values increased.

For the budget year that ended June 30, the 15 mills generated $1,889,670, or $211,543 more revenue than initially estimated, but library expenses also increased significantly, according to library staff.

Tryon asks to review library management; library board to discuss at Feb. 27 meeting

But those numbers don’t account for tax collection rates or tax protests. Calumet has filed a significant tax protest that equates to about $1 million in tax revenue not available to the city during the last budget year and continuing this year, until the protest is addressed.

The library previously received a $350,000 subsidy from the city’s general fund annually, but with the levy passage, that contribution ceased.

Susie McIntyre, library director, told the library board during their Feb. 27 meeting that the city had a library since 1892 that has operated as a city department.

The city adopted an ordinance in 1910 establishing the library and that ordinance was updated in 2017.

State law changed for libraries and the city decided it needed a more specific agreement, which led to the 1993 management agreement still in force currently, McIntyre said.

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About two years ago, the Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority, which is the city’s insurance provider, said they wouldn’t cover libraries unless they had some sort of management agreement with the city, McIntyre said.

She said MMIA reviewed the existing library management agreement with city officials and determined it met their insurance coverage requirements.

In a statement, library board Whitney Olson said, “the [library] renegotiation committee stands firmly committed to upholding the will of the voters, who entrusted us with the responsibility to provide essential services through the levy they approved in June 2023. The proposal by the [city] to renegotiate the library service agreement by reallocating funds undermines the trust that voters placed in us. It is imperative that we honor the commitment made to our citizens, who supported the levy with the clear understanding that the funding package included continued funding from the city at seven mills and would be used to sustain and enhance our library services.

Olson continued, “public safety is indeed a critical issue, and we fully support efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of our community. However, we believe that these efforts should not come at the expense of the library’s ability to fulfill its obligations to the voters. The library plays a vital role in public safety by providing a safe space for learning, access to information, and community engagement, all of which are essential to the fabric of a healthy and secure community. We urge the City Commission to explore alternative funding solutions that do not compromise the integrity of the levy and the essential services it was designed to support. It is our moral and legal obligation to stand by the voters’ decision, and we will continue to advocate for the preservation of the services they approved.”

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The city has struggled to fund public safety needs for years, and many requests from police and fire have gone unfunded in commission adopted budgets.

In 1969, voters approved a $1.96 million bond to build the existing fire stations and training center.

The tower at the training center is condemned and currently unusable.

Great Falls Fire Rescue Chief Jeremy Jones has said during multiple meetings over the last several years that the city needs two new fire stations.

In 2009, voters rejected a public safety levy for police and fire.

In the current budget that commissioners adopted in July, the police budget is $17,612,949 and the fire budget is $11,575,536 for a combined public safety budget of $29,188,485.

New city public safety committee meets May 1

The city is projecting $26,018,186 in tax revenue for the general fund, leaving a $3,170,299 shortfall between property tax revenue and those two budgets alone, according to city officials.

The public safety levy as proposed to voters in November was for an estimated $13.6 million annually, in perpetuity.

Commissioners also sent a $21.17 million public safety infrastructure bond to voters in November 2023.

Both failed.

In 2022, voters approved a roughly $2.5 million levy for county public safety, mainly funding for deputy and county attorney salaries and a pre-trial program that officials are working to implement this fall.

During the Aug. 21 city public safety advisory committee meeting, the committee opted to recommend that the commission consider redirecting those seven mills to public safety.

Aaron Weissman, a committee member and local business owner, said he didn’t agree since the city and library board were already negotiating that agreement.

In previous meetings, he cautioned about going against the people’s vote in support of the library and during the Aug. 21 meeting, said he was opposed to cutting the library’s mills.

Jeni Dodd, a public safety committee meeting suggested the seven mills for the library be eliminated and be dedicated to public safety and that the 1993 agreement be eliminated.

Library levy approved [2023]

Susie McIntyre, library director, said during the Aug. 21 safety committee meeting that in sending the library levy to the voters, commissioners went around the table during a December 2022 meeting and all agreed to maintain the existing mills, including the seven in the 1993 agreement.

When the levy was put before the voters, it was part of an overall funding package and library staff said “if you vote yes, we will do these things.”

She said that if the city cuts those seven mills, “that will mean layoffs and that will mean we will not keep our promises.”

McIntyre asked the committee to “respect the voice of the voters.”

She said that the committee may feel that public safety is a higher priority, but she believed that a healthy city needs good schools, libraries, parks and public safety.

Library levy goes to city ballot June 6 [2023]

“We all need to succeed,” she said, and it wasn’t helpful to put those services against each other.

Commissioners are scheduled to review the public safety advisory committee’s recommendations during their Sept. 3 work session.

Since voters approved the additional library funds in June 2023, the library has implemented free parking for patrons; hired staff; expanded community programming and outreach; increased options through MontanaLibrary2Go and the Libby app; added Mango Languages and LinkedIn Learning; expanded hours to 63, opening seven days a week for the first time in a decade; expanded Bookmobile services to six days a week and restarted homebound services for seniors, veterans and those with disabilities; hired safety staff; and expanded early literacy programs.

According to the documents posted by the library, the city opened negotiations with taking back all seven mills and removing the library director as a department head.

The library team offered a payment of $250,000, once this year and once next year to help with immediate public safety needs.

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The city’s proposal names the library director as an administrative liaison, removing the position as a city department head.

The library committee wrote in their documents that although they’re “disappointed that the city no longer wants the library director to participate and provide input as a department head as has been successfully done for the past 30 years, we acknowledge that the city manager no longer wants to jointly manage the library director.”

In the interest of an agreement, the library team wrote that they won’t object to having the library director report only to the library board, but hoped the city manager would make a good-faith effort to build positive relationships between the library and other city departments.

Under both proposals, the library board would have the authority to appoint the library director and set that salary.

Existing library staff would remain as city employees.

The city has since proposed reducing the funding for the library from the seven mills to three and a half for the next two budget years before eliminating city funding for the library.

City moving forward with plans to send library levy to May ballot [2022]

According to the library’s team, that will cause reduced hours and the library will not be open seven days weekly. It will also mean cuts to programming, the homebound program and digital resources.

The library’s negotiating team countered with an proposal to reduce city funding to the library from seven mills to four and a half mills annually.

That would be a roughly $301,000 reduction in library funding annually, plus the $350,000 annual general fund subsidy already cut from the library after the levy passed, would be an about $650,000 annually for the city to use toward public safety.

During this year’s budget process, Great Falls Fire Rescue asked for $217,614 in additional funding for a new deputy fire marshal and associated office costs, certification pay for two additional paramedics, a 10 percent market adjustment for administrative staff to address compression issues, office furniture to replace hand me downs, a concrete pad for burn cells at the training center and proximity dispatching.

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The city manager’s budget proposal, and the budget adopted by commissioners, did not fund those requests.

The Great Falls Police Department requested $386,874 in additional funding to include three sworn officers for the investigations bureau and associated training and equipment costs for $346,588.

The city manager’s proposed budget adopted by commissioners did not fund those requests, but funded $40,286 for recruiting and increasing costs for the state law enforcement academy tuition costs, additional funds for towing of abandoned and recreational vehicles, more funding for an online investigative tool, and additional funds for travel for training needed due to turnover.

The seven mills for the library generate $842,8000 in the current budget.

Those GFFR and GFPD requests that weren’t funded in the current city budget total $951,076.

City continuing budget discussions, options for funding operations

The city budget funds $40,000 for a case management software in the city prosecutor’s office and $1,000 for office supplies in Municipal Court.

The commission’s adopted budget doesn’t fund the jury clerk or court office clerk for Municipal Court, that were requested in the public safety levy.

City makes health board appointment; approves park leases; changes to weapons code; accepts COPS hiring grant [2021]

The budget does include funding to keep the three GFPD officer positions added with a federal grant that the city accepted in December 2021.

“The Great Falls Public Library is incredibly grateful to have the support of our community. We know times are tough for many, and they passed the Library levy anyway. We don’t take that lightly. We are doing everything we can to treat those resources with the care they deserve. We quickly implemented the programs and services our friends, neighbors, and business community asked for and needed,” according to the library’s team.

Under both proposals, the city will continue to provide human resources, payroll, finance, accounting and other services through the city’s internal service charge process.

The proposals both include five year terms that may be extended by a written agreement between parties. Both proposals include a 90-day transition period if the agreement isn’t renewed.

Officials looking at options for library funding structure [2021]

For an agreement to take effect, it must be approved by both the library board and the City Commission.

The current agreement remains in effect “unless and until 90 days written notice of termination is given by either party prior to the anniversary date of the agreement.”

The agreement’s anniversary date is April 20, seeing the 90 day termination notice deadline for the next fiscal year at Jan. 20, 2025.

According to the library, if the city terminates the 1993 agreement without establishing a new agreement, the board will need to seek legal counsel regarding the status of library employees and other structural issues.