BRAINERD — Crow Wing County commissioners gave consensus approval to a 3% increase in funding for the Kitchigami Regional Library System.

That increase amounts to an increase of $15,273 or a total of $524,400 for 2026.

For the last decade the County Board approved the same appropriation of $509,127, which is The statutory mandate amount the county is required to fund for the regional library service.

Counties are required to provide a minimum maintenance effort for financial support for the library system. In Crow Wing County, that minimum maintenance of effort, as it is called, has not increased in at least 10 years. The county has continued to fund the library system at the minimum level set by the state in 2014. The county funds the Kichigami Regional Library System with $509,127, wh

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