Wright County will be setting its preliminary levy this month, and some of that budget will go to the Great River Regional Library (GRRL).

Tuesday, GRRL Executive Director Karen Pundsack and Accounting and Distribution Supervisor and gave the commissioners an update about recent programs and an overview of the proposed library budget for 2020.

Pundsack said because of a surplus, the GRRL board decided to add wireless printing to all the libraries.

“You will be able to print from a smart phone at the library,” said Pundsack. “You can also be at home and send a print job to the library and then go and pick it up. It’s a great interface.”

That service began Aug.  1 and is expected to be fully implemented by the end of the year.

The GRRL board also decided to no longer charge late fees for juveniles. “That was very well received,” said Pundsack. “It’s a little early to tell what the impact has been because the fines change only started in June. It hasn’t been substantial at this point.”

Pundsack said about 70% of the library’s budget is covered by counties. Another 17% comes from Regional Library Basic System Support.

The counties’ share is determined by a three-part formula based on the number of borrowers, net tax capacity and population.

Murphy said Wright County’s share will remain relatively flat in 2020, increasing from $2,158,593 to $2,161,648.

“Wright Co. had sizeable growth in population compared to other counties, and growth in net tax capacity,” said Murphy.

“Therein lies why every year we pay more and more,” said Commissioner Michael Potter. Wright Co. has had an increase every year since 2012.

Wright County also has a significant number of borrowers. There are 30,800 active library cardholders. In 2018, there were 308,360 visits and 903,410 items checked out of the nine branches in the county.

Those branches are Annandale Buffalo, Clearwater, Cokato, Delano, Howard Lake, Monticello, Rockford and St. Michael.

Pundsack said GRRL strives to make the most of the money provided by the six counties. And sharing items across the 32-branch system is a big part of that.

Total dollars per capita for GRRL is $20.80 compared with $41.56 statewide.

“GRRL is funded at about half of what it costs to run a library across the state of Minnesota,” she said.