The successful attempt by Rick Tryon to take money from the library and give it to public safety in Great Falls has less to do with protecting the public and more to do with the attack on public libraries here in Montana and across the country. Let’s recap the attack on our local library.

Remember The Library Mill Levy

In February of 2023, the city commission voted unanimously to place a levy on the ballot to increase funding for the library.  The proposed levy would raise $1.5 million. In April, anti-library activists, including members of the Pachyderm Club and other loosely affiliated individuals, formed a political action committee to raise money and oppose the levy. They ran a very nasty and aggressive campaign with lots of misinformation and false allegations. Sandra Merchant’s administration of the election was so suspect that a judge appointed a special monitor to assure that the election was conducted properly. The election was held on June 6th. The proposed increase in mills was approved by voters.

Tryon and McKenney Seek Revenge in Board Appointments

The first indication that Tryon and his supporters were going to “get even” with the library came in July with the next appointments to the library board. Based on recommendations from the library board, Jerry Hopkins, a current librarian for the school district, and current board member Anne Bulger came before the city commission for appointment.  All of a sudden Tryon, accompanied by Joe McKenney, raised concerns about the “process” used to appoint board members. They wanted to see the positions advertised, something that had not been required in the past. In fact, both Tryon and McKenney had voted to reappoint two members of the Business Improvement District just two weeks before. Neither raised any concerns about the “process” in making those appointments.   https://wtf406.com/2023/08/city-commission-changes-the-rules-for-library-board-appointments/

The library went through the new selection exercise, advertising the openings, conducting public interviews, and came back with a recommendation to appoint Bulger and Hopkins to the library board. Rather than accepting the library board’s recommendation, Tryon, McKenney and Eric Hinebauch voted to appoint Noelle Johnson without interviewing any of the applicants.  Johnson had pointed out in her application that she had opposed the library levy.  After forcing the library board to jump through the hoops of advertising and interviewing 11 applicants and then ignoring their recommendations, the Electric reported that Tryon said of his vote that he wasn’t basing it on technical qualifications.

Tryon’s $30 Million Safety Levy Failed Popular Vote

Now let’s take a look at Tryon’s failure to pass a safety levy. In January of 2021, Tryon floated the idea of putting together a task force to examine the needs and costs for improving public safety in Great Falls. In March, Tryon presented a draft resolution to implement the study process to the full commission. The city commission approved setting up the task force. In November, the task force recommendations were presented to the commissioners. The recommendations from the task force presented a long (and expensive) list. In spring and early summer of 2023, the commision authorized placing a $21.17 million public safety infrastructure bond, and a separate $10.7 million public safety operations levy, on the ballot. In November, the public safety levy and accompanying bond both failed by wide margins.

Library Funding Cut Has Little to Do With Public Safety

To recap, the identified need for public safety in Great Falls was estimated by the city to be a little over $31 million. The total raised by the library mill levy passed by voters was $1.5 million. If the city takes back its portion (the library serves the city and county) of the approved mill levy for public safety, it will cost the library $842,800, which is 27% of its total budget. That means reducing hours, services and staff. The library board has proposed giving $301,000 to the city as a compromise. The library believes the compromise will still allow it to meet the goals it advertised in the mill campaign, which was approved by voters.

Cutting through all the crap, Tryon and McKenney have dished out about needing the money, the truth is that taking the small amount available from  the library budget does almost nothing to alleviate the $31 million needed for public safety. But it does provide a nifty pretext for siding with the far right in their effort to censor our public library.