Wisconsin Public Library Revenues: 1990-2013

Total public library revenue peaked in 2011, then reversed course in 2013 after a 1% drop in 2012.

The 5% dip in 1998 strikes me as an anomaly when comparing the one previous and one following year, as if revenue was not fully reported.

• 1998.   $167,330,548 
• 1998.   $158,578,992 
• 1999.   $180,137,962

It's an abnormal pattern to me, a 5% decrease followed by a 13.5% increase.

The same blip occurred in 1988 with both municipal and county funding

Municipal funding for public libraries peaked in 2011 but then made a slight turnaround in 2013.

County funding for public libraries has increased since 1999.  Since 1990, the only drop in county funding for public libraries occurred in 1998.   Hmm.

The percentage of municipal funding for public libraries as a percentage of total revenues decreased from 64.1% 1990 to 58.5% in 2013.

The percentage of county funding for public libraries as a percentage of total revenues increased from 17.5% 1990 to 22.3% in 2013.

Act 150.  (Effective July 1, 1998).  Under the county funding section of the law (Wisconsin Statutes Section 43.12), counties are now required to pay each public library in the county at least 70 percent of the cost of library services provided to residents of the county that do not maintain a public library.  (Milwaukee County exempted.)

Act 420.  (First payments made in 2008.)  A new provision of the law extends to adjacent counties the requirement that counties reimburse public libraries for the cost of serving county residents who live in areas of the county without public library service.  (Milwaukee County exempted.)

Related post.
Wisconsin public library circulation, 1990-2013.  (7/10/2014)