Library Board responds to City letter

Residents of Grant & friends of Perkins County, 

First and foremost, thank you for the support and concern for our library. The outpouring of benefaction is extremely encouraging in the midst of this confusion. Thank you to the city of Grant for the transparency in response to the questions that have been raised. However, the board would like to offer the following reply and clarification to a number of issues addressed in the city’s letter. This will be the only written response offered by the board, as we do not wish for this issue to continue in a back-and-forth fashion. We would like to continue working with the city to make the most of our library and the important resources that it offers our community. If you or another community member has a question about our ongoing funding issues, please attend city council meetings, library board meetings, or speak to a city official or library board member. 

The Hastings Memorial Library Board of Trustees takes its fiscal responsibility as a governing board very seriously.  Over the past several years, the board has cut the budget as much as possible to offset continued rising costs, most notably in categories like property and health insurance and professional services, which are outside of our control.  Programming costs, technology updates, books, office supplies and other categories have been outsourced to other funding streams like the county and the library foundation as much as possible.

The library also currently takes advantage of many cost-saving endeavors and partnerships to save money. Among these are the annual application for ERate funding through the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) that provides direct discounts on our internet service, and we are a member of the Nebraska Pioneer Consortium, a group of 17 libraries across the state who have combined to take advantage of the cost-saving benefits of a shared circulation system and library catalog. 

In discussions with the city about the dwindling availability of Franchise Fees and what options were available the board received very little guidance.  In past years, the board had inquired about diversification of revenue streams such as establishing a dedicated portion of the property tax levy for the library to offset our use of the Franchise Fees and we were told that was not possible as our revenue all needed to come from one revenue line item.  As our operating costs continued to rise and our portion of the Franchise Fee rose, it is our understanding that other departments were moved from Franchise Fees to other revenue streams, not cut completely.

In February 2026, the board was prompted to come up with a funding option for the upcoming fiscal year. It was not communicated to the board how much we needed to fund or how much the city planned to give us; however, it was stated that the city would not be giving the library another budget increase. This was presented at our February board meeting, and a sales tax initiative needed to be presented to the city council within 1.5 weeks in order to be added to the ballot by March 1st. The board was given one meeting to make this decision, and a special budget meeting had to be scheduled in order ensure that proper thought and research was given to the subject. After calculations and discussion, the board decided to ask for a property tax levy, which was later denied by the city. At that time, the board believed that a sales tax initiative would not pass and did not have the time, funds, or support for a campaign that would only last for two months. 

At the special budget meeting, it was stated by city employees that even if the sales tax was proposed and passed, the city could still decide to lower our budget. Read: Even if we earned $48,000 with the tax, the city could decide to make another $48,000 cut.

Our board, staff, and supporters are working diligently to find a solution to our funding issues, but unfortunately, the current budget allocated by the city will not even cover the wages and insurance of our current employees. Donations and grants cannot be used to pay for our staff and their needs. If we were to operate under the current budget, our library would be unable to provide the services and programming with a cut to staff and hours. The city has suggested “modest fees” for county residents and programming, but in order to offset the amount cut from the budget, the prices would likely inhibit members of our community from being able to access the library and its services. 

It is our goal to provide free and equal access to all community members.The library is an essential amenity, and without amenities, our city will struggle to draw in new residents. We need our library, just like we need our city, and it is the hope of the board that we can continue to work in conjunction with the city to provide an essential education resource and third space for our residents for the foreseeable future. 

Sincerely,

Hastings Library Board

Madie Kemling,  Penny Lee, Jessica Tenney, Max Jones, and Alisha Einspahr