Howell County News/ Amanda Mendez

Funding Crisis at Mtn. View Library Prompts Promise from Mayor

Effective January 1, there was a price increase for library cards at the Mountain View Public Library following an action of the Board of Aldermen in October 2020. For residents of the City of Mountain View, the cards increased in cost from a one-time $3 fee to an annual $10 fee for city residents. Cards for residents outside the city limits increased in cost to $20 per year. For the first time, use of the library’s computers cost $1 per hour, even for library card holders. 
 
Unsurprisingly, the new fee schedule was unpopular among library users. According to the Library Board President, Pat Culbertson, however, the changes could represent grave consequences for the future of the library in Mountain View. 
A large proportion of the library’s operating budget is from the state of Missouri, and is contingent on the facility remaining a “free library,” Culbertson told Howell County News on January 22. 
“We will lose status as a free library and will lose state funding as of July 1,” said Culbertson, “It’s very serious...I don’t see how the library will be able to continue [without the state funds]. We will have to fundraise it, and that is not what a library is designed for.”
The new library card fees cannot possibly replace the funding that will be lost by imposing the fee structure. 
In a phone interview, Mayor Donnie Pruett told Howell County News on January 22 neither he, nor the Board of Alderman, were aware that charging for library cards would affect other sources of funding so seriously. 
“I was just informed this morning we could lose some funding [at the library],” said Mayor Pruett.
According to the mayor, the City Council voted to increase library fees based on the understanding that the library budget could lose some funding, but not the majority of their operating budget.  
About the vote in October, Mayor Pruett said, “We thought we were doing good and doing more to benefit everybody.”
“I thought it would be a smaller amount of money,” he offered, “We were ill-informed on that and that’s what we based our decision on.”
Now that the facts of the library’s funding crisis is clear, the mayor agrees that the new library card fees will not replace the funding the organization will lose. 
“I’m going to recommend rescinding [the fee structure] and refunding all the people who have paid,” promised Mayor Pruett. 
The mayor cannot make this decision in a vacuum. Reversing the fee policy will require an action from the Board of Aldermen, but Mayor Pruett said he planned to put the issue on the agenda for action at the February City Council meeting. 
Both the library card fees for city residents as well as the computer use charges are likely to be rescinded. The charges for library users outside Mountain View are likely to remain because “free library” status applies only to the residents within city limits. Mayor Pruett plans to reassess the library’s funding needs from the municipal budget in July.
 
He is optimistic about the facility’s future, however. The new sales tax up for approval during April’s municipal election is designed to fund projects in the Parks and Recreation Department, including the city pool and green spaces, both of which are significant drains on the city budget. If the proposed sales tax passes, Mayor Pruett hopes it will “free up” money in the budget for other city departments, like the library.

Howell County News

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