The governor's proposed budget, released on March 1, eliminates maintenance of effort (MoE) funding for public libraries.  The budget document reads, "The Governor recommends eliminating the requirement that municipalities and counties maintain annual local expenditures for public libraries at the average of the prior three years as a condition for being a member of a public library system."

By action of the Common Council, Mead Library is a member of the Eastern Shores Library System (ESLS), a state-funded agency that serves the 13 public libraries and all residents in Sheboygan and Ozaukee counties.

At the present time, each governing body of a municipality that wants its library to be a system agrees to meet 10 requirements. One is to share collections through walk-in service with all residents in the system, a network of cooperation among libraries that has been in place for decades. Another requirement is that the municipality’s governing body fund its library at an amount not less than the average of the previous three years, called a "Maintenance of Effort." A municipality must continue financial support for its library, in other words, to make an effort to maintain the current level of funding. This is intended to assure that municipalities participating in the state-funded library systems like ESLS do not reduce their local support for library services.

There are 387 independent public libraries in Wisconsin and each one is a member of a public library system.

As a member of the Eastern Shores Library System, Mead Library shares with other members library management computer software, including the EasiCat catalog. That software and centralized equipment was purchased by ESLS, with funding from Sheboygan and Ozaukee counties, to manage every aspect of library operations. In addition to operating Mead Public Library, EasiCat allows customers to search and request materials in other libraries. That means City of Sheboygan residents may use and check out any of the nearly 2 million items at other public libraries in both counties. ESLS also coordinates InterLibrary Loan requests so that Mead customers may borrow materials from other libraries in the state and throughout the country.

Why does the State of Wisconsin set a spending requirement for public libraries in order to be members of library systems? It was imposed as a way to assure the continuation of local support for public library services for those communities benefiting from the state aid to public library systems, like ESLS. The Maintenance of Effort requirement would prevent a municipality from joining a library system only to make drastic budget cuts to its own library while continuing to take advantage of the collections and services of the other member libraries and the state-funded services provided by the system.