UPDATE. Library payments cease-fire reached in Brown, Outagamie counties

Reported in Brown, Outagamie close book on $68K debt.  (Green Bay Press Gazette, 9/19/2016)

No fingers were reported smashed in the process.

Shawano County paid the Brown County Public Library $58,000 this spring and will pay $53,000 next March.  Some Shawano County officials are now wondering about the possibility of a consolidated county library.  The Shawano City-County Library operates as a joint library under Wisconsin State Statutes 43.53.

Kewaunee County's 2 most recent payments total just under $105,000.  Residents have been encouraged to use the county's two public libraries, Algoma and Kewaunee.

Original 1/23/2015 post, "Just in Time for Library Legislative Day:  The across-system-borders dispute heats up", starts here.

Photo credit:  Brown County

Brown Co. sues Outagamie over $68K in library fees.  (Green  Bay Press Gazette, 1/23/2015)

Bringing us up to date

Outagamie supervisors voted 31-3 in October to reject a settlement offer from Brown. Guidote could not be reached for comment Thursday. 

In 2013, Outagamie County libraries briefly barred Brown County residents from borrowing materials from Appleton and elsewhere, said Appleton Public Library director Colleen Rortvedt. 

A 2006 amendment to a state law allowed counties with 500,000 or fewer residents to bill adjacent counties for library use — provided those counties don't have consolidated public libraries and residents don't pay a county tax to maintain a library. That means Brown could bill Calumet, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Oconto and Outagamie counties, and those counties couldn't bill Brown. 

Brown began billing in 2011, sending invoices totaling $251,258 that year to five counties including Outagamie. The other four — Calumet, Kewaunee, Manitowoc and Oconto — paid up. 

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.  FAQ About County Library Funding to Libraries in Adjacent Counties.

Related posts:
County funding to libraries in adjacent counties: Geography and convenience trump the "easy fix" for Kewaunee County.  (8/16/2014) 
Act 420: If Brown County, Then Outagamie County.  (12/10/2015)

No resolution to Outagamie-Brown library dispute.  (12/9/2012)
Kewaunee County residents use Brown County libraries.  (9/9/2012)