County payment for library services
(1) By March 1 of each year, a county that does not maintain a consolidated public library for the county under s. 43.57 and that contains residents who are not residents of a municipality that maintains a public library under s. 43.52 or 43.53 shall pay to each public library in the county an amount that is equal to at least 70% of the amount computed by multiplying the number of loans reported under sub. (2) by the amount that results from dividing the total operational expenditures of the library during the calendar year for which the number of loans are reported, not including capital expenditures or expenditures of federal funds, by the total number of loans of material made by the public library during the calendar year for which the loans are reported.
(2) By July 1 of each year, each public library lying in whole or in part in a county shall provide a statement to the county clerk of that county that reports the number of loans of material made by that library during the prior calendar year to residents of the county who are not residents of a municipality that maintains a public library under s. 43.52 or 43.53 and the total number of loans of material made by that library during the previous calendar year.
(3) A county may enter into an agreement with its participating municipalities or with a public library system to pay no less than the amounts determined under sub. (1) to the public library system for distribution to the public libraries that participate in that system.
(4) Upon request of a county clerk, a public library shall provide access to all books and records used to determine the amount computed under sub. (2).
(5) Nothing in this section prohibits a county from providing its own additional funding for shared services. A library board may elect to have this funding credited to such shared services rather than to receive it as direct reimbursements.
(5m) Nothing in this section prohibits a county from providing its own additional funding for capital expenditures.
(6) The county library board or, if no county library board exists, the county itself, shall either distribute the aid provided by the county to the public libraries, as provided in the plan prepared under s. 43.11, or shall transfer the aid for distribution to the public library system in which it participates.
(7) This section does not apply to a county having a population of 500,000 or more.