[Michlib-l] Contracting Communities Pricing Responses

[Dan Hutchins]

Many on Michlib-L asked me to compile and share what I discovered regarding pricing for contract communities. I was struck by the diversity of answers I received, and there was no obvious pattern to be found. Further, not everyone wanted me to share what they related to me, or in some instances they allowed me to share their thoughts on the matter but not their identity. Also note that I have omitted some responses as they weren’t precisely on point. Below I’ve compiled the responses I believe will be of most interest.
One respondent said it’s helpful for Coops to have a property tax requirement for reciprocity and interlibrary loan. In their case, communities were shopping libraries for the cheapest deal, then once contracted, had access to all other libraries who had reciprocal borrowing agreements with the contracting library. Instituting a rule requiring the contracting community to pay the equivalent of .3 mills to gain access to reciprocal borrowing and ILL stopped these less than generous communities in their region from shopping around for the least expensive deal.
Another respondent said:Just yesterday, I was breaking down stats and realizing that one of our contract communities has more accounts and library use than our actual tax-paying city. And they are only paying $5000 a year plus what we get for penal fines. It does seem unfair.
Another stated:This is one of the struggles we had at my former library. We had a single contract community and over time things got to where they were paying less than half what our residents were paying because the contract called for a specific amount instead of a percentage of the tax base. The library was a City Dept. and I was unable to get a solution through the board and city maze. My thought is that any such contract should include a clause that automatically raises the fee in relation to the host community fee. That way at least you don’t fall further and further apart. Otherwise, over time it becomes almost impossible for the contract community to raise their fee to maintain that equity.
Yet another related to me:Our second biggest users are a contract community where we get penal fines & state aid only. And they are a dysfunctional community. 
Another contract community that we serve, a very small portion, we get state aid, penal fines & a very generous yearly donation. 
Rebekah Craft, director of Baldwin Public Library told me that Baldwin Library has four different communities they contract with, all with different contract formulas and different rates. If you would like more information about their situation, please contact Rebekah off list. Her contact information may be found here: https://www.baldwinlib.org/staff-board/
Perhaps the most interesting exchange was with Valerie Meyerson, director of the Petoskey District Library. At one time, Petoskey contracted with eight neighboring communities for penal fines, state aid, and $5 per card, which was billed annually to the contracting community. Petoskey tried to form a district with the contracting communities, but the City of Petoskey pulled out of the potential district agreement as they feared any new library facility would be built outside of their city limits. According to Valerie, this pull-out was the beginning of larger problems. Petoskey District did eventually build a new library, which was 25,000 square feet. This was quite a step up from their old 6,000 square foot Carnegie library. Around the time the new facility opened, Petoskey tried to raise the contract fees, and all communities except for two of the eight terminated their agreements for services. The new contract fee Petoskey asked for increased to 4/10 of a mill, which could only be used for operations. These contracts must be voted upon or renewed every few years. Two more communities did eventually recontract with Petoskey, for a total of four.While it’s far less than what City of Petoskey residents are paying, Valerie did say 4/10 of a mill from the contracting communities provides a far better revenue stream than penal fines, state aid, and $5 per card did.
Dan Hutchins
Director
Van Buren District Library
200 North Phelps Street
Decatur, MI 49045
dhutchins at vbdl.org
http://www.vbdl.org
269-423-4771
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