Of course there are ways, and probably a lot cheaper, to bring library facilities to these people without running a government program, which almost by definition is clogged with waste and abuse. The people fighting to keep this program are mostly the bureaucrats that it feeds.

...$500,000 payroll for 10 employees...

In an area where the median income is listed at about $33,000 a year, that pretty much says it all about where the money is going, doesn't it? And this doesn't count other costs, which are no doubt similarly inflated.

Whenever any locality complains about taxes, it is standard operating procedure for the politicians to threaten to put a gun to the head of the local library, with police and fire departments being a close second. The wasteful ratholes (my local favorite was a program that buys "art" for new buildings) where the money is actually going are never brought up.