Councilmember Kevin Beard spoke to the difficulty in comprising a budget that would appease the majority, saying that the city has been dealing with tough budgets for a number of years, and will continue to do so.

“While some people think that asset A isn’t needed because they don’t use it, others will fight to the death to keep it,” he said.

As a part of that budget, the library will receive a millage to occur over the course of two years, with one-mill approved with the budget and the second to be voted upon by East Lansing citizens in the November elections.

The millage was proposed by Triplett earlier in the process to help the library stay afloat with rising costs putting its continued existence in danger.

Councilmember Don Power encouraged citizens to consider how important the library is to the city when it comes time to vote on the proposal in November.

In all, the council was happy with the final budget, each councilmember taking turns to express their gratitude to all the city employees that helped make it happen.

“This is a very good budget,” Power said. “We do have challenges ahead that we need to address, and that includes us as a council. But I picked up my newspaper this morning and said ‘I’d rather live here, than anywhere else.’”