Presentation to the Waukesha County Municipal Executives Committee
October 2004
Waukesha County Federated Library System Director Tom Hennen
Waukesha Public Library Director Jane Ameel


Recently there have been calls to consider library consolidation in Waukesha County. County Executive Finley has called for consolidation in his 2005 Budget message to the County Board and in several recent articles in the Journal Sentinel and other area papers. In an editorial on October 24th, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called for consolidation of the library services in Milwaukee County.

Waukesha Mayor Lombardi addressed the Executive Committee of the County Board on October 11th and asked that the County Board adopt a proposal to fund a study of the options available and the fiscal impact of consolidation of library services. The Executive Committee recommended the proposal but the entire County Board has not yet acted on the proposal.

There is a need to seek and understand a great deal of information before we can determine whether any type of consolidation would be beneficial in Waukesha County. Some of the issues involved, that a comprehensive plan needs to address include are listed below.

1. Since there are four current and one proposed statutory options for how to consolidate, the impact of each option must be considered carefully.
2. The transfer of ownership of existing library buildings and capital assets must be defined. Several libraries in the county are in municipal buildings rather than stand alone facilities. Some library buildings are already paid for while others have existing bonded indebtedness. Such factors complicate planning.
3. National data suggest strongly that private donations for buildings are far less likely to be made to a branch of a consolidated county than to an independent municipal library.
4. Since cities and villages can exempt from a consolidated library levy just as they do for a federated levy any plan must consider the possibility of partial results only.
5. All parties need to take note of the fact that state law does not require a consolidated library to compensate independent libraries at those independent libraries.
6. Independent library directors and library boards can be extremely resistant to giving up their autonomy.
7. Integrating staff into a single work force requires major adjustments to salaries, compensation, and benefits to provide equity.
8. The uncertainties relating to consolidation discussions can badly damage library staff morale, so the consideration period should be as short as possible.
This report provides municipal executives with an overview of library consolidation options currently available in state statutes and being considered as state legislation.

  • Table 1. Types of County Libraries and Wider Units in Wisconsin
  • Table 2. Features of Consolidation Types
  • Table 3. Wider Unit Comparisons
  • Table 4. Comparison of 2003 Library and Non-Library Taxes (with Estimated Capital Costs for Library Communities) to Taxes and Rates in a Consolidated Community Cosing the Same Amount

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