Troup casts tie-breaking vote in support of giving $350,000 subsidy to library in final act as mayor

QUINCY — Many people in attendance for Monday night’s Quincy City Council meeting applauded after Mayor Mike Troup cast the tie-breaking vote to give a $350,000 subsidy from the city to fund the Quincy Public Library.

However, at least one alderman wasn’t happy with Troup’s final vote as mayor in his final meeting.

“(Troup) chose to vote to break the tie and to give the library, which is not a city department, $350,000 of city tax dollars, while he’s been telling and preaching to departments that we need to tighten the belt with their budgets,” Alderman Jeff Bergman (R-2) said after the meeting. 

“It’s just frustrating knowing that we have very difficult financial times coming over the next couple years. We’re going to have to ask our city departments to tighten their belts and make cuts, which will directly affect the services the citizens of Quincy deserve and expect. Yet we’re taking some general fund money, which should go to city departments, and we’re giving it to the library, which we have no control or say in their operations or the budget.”

Quincy Public Library Executive Director Kathleen Helsabeck had asked for a $423,975 subsidy from the city for her budget. However, an amendment to the budget, approved 8-6 by the City Council, was to have given the library a $200,000 subsidy. Voting against the amendment were Ken Hultz (R-3), Kelly Mays (R-3), Mike Rein (R-4), Jake Reed (R-6), Ben Uzelac (D-7) and Jack Holtschlag (D-7).

However, when a vote of the nearly $55 million budget was taken, there was a brief pause. Uzelac expressed his discontentment with the budget. 

“Anybody who likes that budget is welcome to make the motion,” he said. “Otherwise, we can sit here. I have nowhere to be.”

The aldermen eventually voted 8-6 against the amended budget with a $200,000 subsidy. Karol Ehmen (R-4), Tony Sassen (R-4), Glen Ebbing (R-5), Reed, Eric Entrup (R-1) and Dave Bauer (D-2) voted in support.

The budget had to be passed by the end of the month, so the City Council needed to make more changes or come back to vote on Tuesday or Wednesday. Uzelac offered to make an amendment to restore the subsidy back to Helsabeck’s original request, but it was not allowed. 

Mays then made a motion to give the library $350,000. 

Greg Fletcher (R-1) had questioned Helsabeck’s original request of $423,975 earlier in the meeting.

“Did we not discover a $70,000 error about a month ago which would have took that down to $350,000?” he asked. When Helsabeck said yes, Fletcher replied, “Why ain’t that reflected here then?”

Helsabeck agreed that the real number the library needed was $350,000. She explained to Muddy River News after the meeting that the discrepancy came from the city and the library estimating different numbers for personal property replacement tax (PPRT) dollars, therefore impacting how much money the library would need to ask the city for. 

Aldermen then voted 8-6 in favor of the amendment calling for the $350,000 subsidy. Voting against the amendment were Fletcher, Entrup, Bergman, Sassen, Rein and Richie Reis (D-6).

A new version (including $350,000 for the library) of the nearly $55 million budget was then voted on. Aldermen were tied 7-7. The budget received support from Hultz, Mays, Ehmen, Ebbing, Reed, Uzelac, and Holtschlag. The mayor’s vote was needed for the tiebreak.

“I’ll vote yes,” he said.

“Based on what Kathleen and the library board members had talked to me about, as well as when I talked to a lot of the aldermen before the meeting tonight, if we could get (the library subsidy) to $350,000, (the aldermen) would approve the budget,” Troup said after the meeting. “So when that came up for the second time, and it required me to vote, OK, fine. It showed a little takeaway from the library, but not to the same level of reduction that the first proposal did.”

Helsabeck waited until nearly everybody had left City Council chambers on Monday to thank Troup and shake his hand.

“I believe that we can stay fully funded and fully staffed with $350,000,” she said after the meeting. “That was quite a roller coaster. I feel very pleased.”

The City Council chamber was overflowing with library supporters filling the seats, standing on the edges of the room and spilling into the hallway. Twenty-one people addressed the City Council about funding the library during the public comment period. They spoke about the community, resources and support that the library provides. There was a sense of urgency to protect a sacred space. 

Larry Ruemmler spoke to the intellectual engagement of the monthly Socrates Cafe discussions. David May explained that when his wife was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, the library provided the necessary room to create a support group. Educators and grandparents spoke to the importance of a library for children, and many patrons remembered the impacts had on themselves as children. 

Samantha Barton, a young mother, described the library as “a welcoming bridge into the community by way of its numerous programs, events and services.”

“There was a question about the library budget and what would happen if we did not get these funds,” Helsabeck said. “I knew that we needed to provide during public comment from the patrons, the staff and the board about why the library is important to them.”

Helsabeck explained during a presentation to the aldermen that the city has provided a subsidy since 1993. At that time, PPRT dollars decreased for the library, and then-Mayor Chuck Scholz decided to use general fund money to support the library rather than raise property taxes. 

She also explained that the library had a staff of 57 at that time. Now it operates with only 37 employees. 

Fletcher wanted to make clear to the audience that he appreciates the library, even if he could not vote in support of funding the entire request.

“I’m a member … I love our library,” he said, pulling out his library card and waving it in the air. “We’ve got to start looking at things. When I see the fire and police doing more with less, how can I give you everything you want?”

Aldermen also voted Monday to transfer $4 million from the city’s $6 million general fund balance to the water and sewage fund to pay for a water main replacement project on Broadway from 24th to 30th Street. With a tight budget expected in the next few years, Fletcher was wary of diminishing the general fund even further with the library subsidy.

Both Reed and Bergman told the library supporters in the audience to prepare for less of a subsidy — or possibly no subsidy — from the City Council in future budgets.

“I believe last year in (the finance committee), we talked about that if (the library) wanted to levy more taxes, they could essentially become their own taxing body,” Reed said. “Instead of just subsidizing them every year because they need a subsidy every year, I believe the library should at some point move towards that instead of us having to take from the general funds. We’re running into hard times. It’s everywhere. Inflation is killing us. Everything costs so much more money to do. Tariffs are killing us.”

“If the budget does come in tough again next year, and the finances are tough, (the library staff needs) to be making sure that the library is looking forward to even maybe another reduction next year or being able to stand on their own,” Bergman said.

Muddy River News Editor David Adam contributed to this story.