Waukesha Library Standards Vetoed
As “Unfunded Mandate”
Recriminations continue to fly some two weeks after Waukesha County (Wis.) Executive Dan Finley vetoed the county board’s approval of performance standards for the Waukesha County Federated Library System. Finley argued that the standards amounted to an “unfunded mandate” that the county often resists.
Developed by a 25-member special committee, the standards comply with a new state law taking effect in October tying peformance to eligibility for state funding. All 16 member libraries will have to meet minimum requirements by 2003 regarding staffing, hours, and holdings. New Berlin Mayor Jim Gatzke had objected because his town’s library would need to hire seven additional staff.
“For eight years, we’ve been trying to get some kind of library agreement—eight years,” County Board Chairman Jim Dwyer said in the July 30 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “It’s like getting the Hatfields and McCoys to agree.”
Finley now is considering a plan that makes the standards voluntary.
Posted August 7, 2000.
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