Will it be open again Fridays?

The Albert Lea Public Library is one step closer to expanding its hours after Freeborn County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved additional funding toward the library.

County Administrator John Kluever said the commissioners approved $8,400 that would go toward reinstating Friday hours in 2015.

The county already pays $262,000 — or 30 percent of the library cost, Kluever said. The additional funding would cover 30 percent of an additional five hours per week and are contingent on whether the city approves the remaining portion.

“I was just thrilled,” said library Director Peggy Havener. “I had asked them for it, and they had thought it was a great use of funds.”

The issue now remains whether the Albert Lea City Council will think the same.

Assistant Albert Lea City Manager Sack Thongvanh said though the City Council did not include the library request in its preliminary budget passed earlier this month, city councilors and officials continue to review the option.

The library has been open for five days a week — Sundays through Thursdays — since 2010 because of budget cuts.

A group of residents started a petition earlier this year to extend the hours into Friday, and when the group turned it into the council in July, the petition had 350 signatures.

The library funding was a small piece of the overall $20.27 million preliminary tax levy the commissioners approved Tuesday during their meeting.

 

The levy

With the addition of the library funding — plus an additional $1,500 to go toward the Parenting Resource Center — the commissioners set the preliminary 2015 levy at about $821,000 higher than it was in 2014.

The proposed levy hike can be lowered before the end of the year, but it cannot be raised.

Kluever said with the 3.9 percent levy increase approved Tuesday, taxes would increase $4 on a $100,000 residential homestead and $17 on a $200,000 commercial business. The estimated increase for an average acre of tillable agriculture land would be $1.97.

Of the levy increase, $430,000 would go to pay off the bonds the county took out to pay for road construction and a storage facility at the county shop. The remaining $381,000 of the increase would go toward meeting changes in health insurance regulations.

The commissioners approved the preliminary budget at $43.6 million.