JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Stutsman County Library will be defending their budget request to the County Commission Tuesday, August 3rd as budget discussions continue before the August 10th deadline.

In the latest special meeting, the commission reported the budget is currently 20 mills over last year. Although it’s early in the budget process, the county will not consider a 20 mill increase, which would increase property taxes by about $90 for every $100,000 residential value.

This has raised some concern for different entities, including the James River Valley Library System (JRVLS).

Joe Rector is the Library Director for JRVLS.

Rector says the library has been approached with the idea of closing the doors of the County Library and only operating the bookmobile from the facility. He says with their already limited space at the Alfred Dickey Library, this would be difficult to move ahead with.

He pointed out that losing the Stutsman County Library would create deep cuts to material purchases, reductions in the Bookmobile routes, reduced hours, and longer wait times for bestsellers.

Library Board Member Pam Phillips says she would be disappointed to see library accessibility cut in the county.

She added they are prepared to defend their budget requests at the next budget discussion on Tuesday, August 3rd.

The library budget hearing will be held Tuesday, August 3rd at 2 PM at the Stutsman County Courthouse.

Rector and Phillips encourage anyone who has concerns with the library budget to reach out to the County Commissioners through the Stutsman County website or send messages to Joe Rector at stutsman@daktelcom.

Listen to a full Let’s Talk About It with Joe Rector below: