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State Representative Joe Mullery
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4262
For more information contact: Matt Swenson 651-297-8406
COMMUNITY NOTICE
MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN LIBRARY MERGER
A law was passed creating legal authority to transfer title, property, and employee plans from Minneapolis to Hennepin County for the operation of a merged city/county library system.
As you know, the Minneapolis Library Board closed our Webber Park branch last winter and were intending to close more libraries in the future. From all the information I could obtain, it seemed apparent the only way to keep our neighborhood libraries functioning in Minneapolis was to merge with the Hennepin system. While there is no written provision keeping Webber Park Library open, I made it a point to ask the executives from Hennepin County (who testified on the merger bill in committee) whether they intended to keep open Webber Park Library, and on the taped record they stated “yes".
The head of the Hennepin County Library System asked me about such a merger a few years ago, and I have been informed by people close to the executives in the Minneapolis system that they have been setting up plans for this for a number of years.
After the merger, Minneapolis residents will continue to be responsible for the bonds they committed to in the referendum. Moreover, Minneapolis will be required to contribute operating funds to the county libraries in declining amounts over ten years, as well as funds in declining amounts over eight years to extend city library hours.
The ownership of the libraries in Minneapolis will be transferred to Hennepin County and city library employees will be transferred to Hennepin County with their benefits and seniority protected.
When the stadium bill was enacted last year, there was a provision that certain monies would go from the countywide sales tax to the Minneapolis and Hennepin County libraries. However, that amount would vary every year and some years would decrease. Under another state law, any year that money decreased, the Hennepin Library system would lose state grant funds in the amount of that decrease. Thus, I passed a law that provides that any decrease in the amount from the stadium tax will not cause any reduction in the amount of the state grant to our libraries.
There was also a provision in a bill that passed both bodies of the legislature that required state payment of over $4 million to Hennepin County libraries to pay for the extra costs attributable to the merger. In a completely phony act, Governor Pawlenty vetoed that $4 million grant to Hennepin Libraries. He said the reason for his veto was because the funding was “buried” in the education omnibus funding bill. Obviously, that was a completely phony reason since all funding of all libraries in the state was clearly contained in that education omnibus funding bill, and he didn’t veto any funding for any other libraries.
News Items
- Reminder: Primary - August 14; Some Voting Locations May Have Changed - (Posted: 2012-07-08 00:00:00)
- Passing of Dr. John Williams - (Posted: 2012-07-09 00:00:00)
- Rep. Mullery: 2012 Legislative Report - (Posted: 2012-07-10 00:00:00)
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