The Sheboygan Common Council must meet a funding requirement every year for participation in the Eastern Shores Library System (ESLS). Should the funding requirement not be met, and the Council declines to withdraw from ESLS, Mead Public Library faces penalties and eventual expulsion by the Eastern Shores Library System as required by state law. What might that mean for taxpayers, the Common Council, the 70,000 Mead Public Library card-holders?

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.

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.

According to state statutes, funding for Maintenance of Effort may not come from any source other than the municipality’s governing body. In Sheboygan, it must be approved by the Common Council in its budget. Maintenance of Effort funding may not come from a private donation or a grant. According to the state Division for Libraries, Technology and Community Learning, based on an opinion from the attorney general's office, it cannot come from unspent funds from a prior year or any other accounts the library may have for any other purposes.

There are 387 independent public libraries in Wisconsin and each one is a member of a public library system. In 2006, state aid to public library systems totaled $14,908,600, for example. Eastern Shores Library System received $574,518. If Mead Library were expelled from ESLS, City of Sheboygan taxpayers would continue paying taxes to the state of Wisconsin for a purpose that benefits every single library in the state—except their own. Sheboygan residents would need to replace the state-funded services that ESLS provides to Mead Public Library using local tax dollars. The Library cannot operate without these services.

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.

This November 2009 study (PDF file) by NorthStar Economics Inc. examines the fiscal flows of Mead Public Library with respect to its membership in the Eastern Shores Library System (ESLS) and the funding base provided by the City of Sheboygan. NorthStar Economics was retained by the Mead Public Library Board to provide analysis of the funding provided by the City of Sheboygan Common Council for public library service, and to evaluate the value of participation in the ESLS and related programs of service.