Crawford County has our own library district, which means our library tax stays in our county, supporting our 3 libraries: Steelville, Cuba, and Bourbon. The library district is overseen by a five-person board that sets the library tax rate. At the present time, it is at .20 which is the maximum it can be.
The library has surplus funds that are wisely invested in CD’s at Town and Country Bank in the amount of 1.3 million dollars. The library district owns the building in Steelville and rents in the other 2 cities. This rental agreement helps the buildings in those cities and offers low rent to the library district.
Employee salaries have doubled over the last 5 years, in part due to increased staffing to be open more hours for the public. Library employees enjoyed a 3 to 5% raise in 2025 and a 7 to 10% raise this year. Due to the minimum wage increase, it was necessary to increase certain employees wages by $0.25 to meet the $15 minimum wage. However, the library board went beyond that and decided to increase everyone’s salary by $1.25 per hour PLUS a 2.7% COLA raise.
The majority of the library's revenue is from our tax dollars.
The Library Board meets on the second Monday of the month at the Steelville location at 10 am. It is open to the public, and your comments matter.
Cathy Boero
Bourbon
