Following a controversial vote Friday by the Sauk County Finance Committee, local libraries will not see the $48,000 increase in county funding they requested.

The move may cause some community libraries to reduce hours of service or cut staff, said Beverly Vaillancourt, vice president of the Sauk County Library Board.

"I take exception to it," Vaillancourt said in a phone interview Friday. "I have always said libraries are no good if the doors are closed."

The move came during budget deliberations as Finance Committee members worked to bring 2009 expenses within state-imposed levy limits.

Sauk County Controller Kerry Beghin said libraries are exempt from state-imposed tax levy limits, so the county could have paid for the increased library funding without having to cut from other departments.

"The bottom line is that it's still spending," said Sauk County Board Chairman Marty Krueger of Reedsburg, who proposed the cut.

He said the county can't sustain the increases libraries have been getting (libraries requested a 5.77 increase over last year's $833,000).

"I just feel uncomfortable giving them a 5.77 percent increase and asking everybody else to do some slicing," Krueger said.

Vaillancourt said libraries based their funding requests on circulation. The increase in dollars requested was based on an increase in circulation in 2007.

If the county doesn't fund its fair share, municipalities will have to pick up the slack or make cuts, Vaillancourt said.

During Friday's meeting, Krueger said the county is being asked to subsidize a firing range for local police agencies, so the cut seems minor in comparison.

The decreased library funding will save local taxpayers 72 cents on every $100,000 of assessed property value.

"It's just going to be pennies," said Finance Committee member Joan Fordham of Baraboo, who voted against the cut. "And I'm concerned that asking the libraries to operate on last year's levy is going to mean libraries having to reduce services."

Finance committee members Tommy Lee Bychinski of Reedsburg and Steven Bach of Baraboo voted with Krueger to reject the increase. Supervisors Joan Fordham of Baraboo and Bill Wenzel of Prairie du Sac dissented. It was the only major disagreement of the Finance Committee during over 4 hours of meetings Friday.