Oct 20, 2017 4 min read

Municipalities might need to increase their donations to Citizens Library if they want to keep a representative on the board of directors.

The board recently approved new bylaws, which include a new formula for municipalities that donate money in order to retain a seat on the board.

“We greatly appreciate all of the appropriations from our municipalities that have stayed with us,” said Diane Ambrose, director of Citizens. “Our hope here is for the library to move forward.”

The nine-member board is currently made up of representatives from the city of Washington, the borough of East Washington, and South Strabane, Amwell, North Franklin and Canton townships, along with representatives from the McGuffey and Washington school districts and Washington County’s Orphans’ Court.

In an 8-0 vote Sept. 19, the representatives approved the new formula, which mandates municipalities to pay $2 per capita to the library or a minimum of $5,000 in order to have a representative on the board. School districts will need to pay $5 per student to have someone on the board. Municipalities will have until July to pay the money, and school districts will have until the end of their fiscal year.

“We never had hard numbers to go on because the number changed every year,” said David Franz, president of the board. “With this new formula, we can figure out what we need to put in our budget for next year.”

Under the previous formula, municipalities were required to donate three percent of the total municipal contributions to the library to have board representation, Franz said. But after Trinity Area School District pulled its funding from the library in 2014 and other municipalities reduced funding since 2013, the money coming in from municipalities became uneven and unreliable, Franz and Ambrose said.

For some of the municipalities, retaining a seat on the board could mean a large increase in their donations under the new bylaws. Canton Township, with a population of 8,375, would see its contribution rise from the approximate $3,500 donated last year to about $16,750. Canton Township supervisors have not made a decision as to whether they will retain a seat on the library board.

South Strabane Township, with a population of 9,346, also would see a large increase, from the $7,500 paid last year to $18,692.

At one time, according to the library board, South Strabane had paid as much as $26,000 annually, and Canton Township had once paid $10,000 to the library.

Under the new formula, North Franklin’s contribution would increase from $5,000 to $9,166, Amwell’s would rise from $5,000 to $7,502, and East Washington’s would go from $3,000 to $5,000.

Washington also will see an increase, from last year’s $25,000 to $27,326, but Mayor Scott Putnam said the city is “on board” with that.

“It is going to be a small increase to us, but the library is very important to us, and it’s the least we can do,” he said.

Putnam said that with state aid and other sources of funding, he’s not worried that Washington will need to carry a monetary burden if other municipalities cease funding and pull their representatives from the board as a result of the new bylaws.

“I think there are enough people that realize that the library is an important part of our community,” he said.

Ambrose hopes the municipalities will continue their support of the library and the new bylaws, especially since their own representatives voted in favor of the changes.

“The object is not to lower any municipal participation,” Ambrose said. “It’s to make sure that the residents are served to the best of our ability. We see it as a quality-of-life issue for the municipality.”

Ambrose said she will send a letter to the municipalities with information on the new bylaws and ask them to commit to the new appropriations before the July deadline.

“That way we can finish our budget process and so can they,” she said.