The Kalona Public Library is looking to extend its contract with the City of Riverside to provide library services for the residents of the city in the new fiscal year, beginning in July 2026.

The library is requesting its fiscal year 2026-2027 budget be set to $42,500, a 6.5-percent increase from the previous year. In a letter to the Riverside City Council, Kalona Public Library Director Olivia Kahler and Library Board President Kyle Askling state that the city’s residents currently pay the library $37.73 per capita based on the city’s estimated population of 1,060. For comparison, based on averages from the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the latest available fiscal data, cities the size of Riverside pay an average of $57.33 per capita.

The new request would equate to $40.09 per capita, falling between the current rate and the average.

Kahler and Askling’s letter further states that Kalona library staff increased the number of summer library programs held in Riverside and continued curating the library at Riverside Senior Village.

Kahler says the contract wasn’t signed at the most recent Riverside city council meeting, but discussions will continue, “The mayor was absent last night (February 2nd) from the meeting, so he couldn’t sign the contract. They’ll discuss it at another meeting. They said that their budget will probably be finalized around mid-March. So I should be hearing from them in March about whether they’ve accepted the contract.”

Riverside residents make up 23.8% of the card holders in the Kalona Public Library system.