Norwin Public Library could lose about 85% of its taxpayer-generated funding if voters in the area it serves decide to cut 1 mill from the special 1.2-mill library tax on real estate.

“It will impact the library’s state funding and other funding. It will have a cascade effect,” that likely will impact the ability to provide programming, as well as affecting operating hours and staffing, said Diana Falk, director of the library on Caruthers Lane.

The library tax is levied on property owners in North Huntingdon, Irwin and North Irwin.

A referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot in those communities asks voters whether they want to eliminate 1 mill from the library tax that was approved by a referendum in 2000 for construction and maintenance of a new library, Falk said. The 0.2-mill tax was approved about 40 years ago. The library moved from a former post office in downtown Irwin to the new facility in 2004.

The library tax provides about $501,000 in revenue, the bulk of the $718,000 budget for 2022, said Robert Thornton, the library’s accountant. Cutting the tax would reduce the revenue stream to about $82,000, Thornton said. If approved, the tax reduction would not take effect until 2023, Falk said.

“The board has not engaged in any doomsday planning,” Falk said, but the library “would have to face cuts” because it could not continue in its current form.

With the increase in assessed value of property in the district, primarily from growth in North Huntingdon, the revenue generated by the special library tax has increased from about $369,000 to its current level, Falk said.

Without the tax revenue, the library could not meet its goal of receiving $5 per person in revenue, which is needed for its service area to qualify for state funding amounting to about $116,000, Falk said. The library support group, Friends of the Norwin Library, provides about $19,000 from its fundraisers, Thornton said.

The referendum is on the ballot because the group Friends of the Norwin Library Reform received 471 signatures on petitions seeking a vote to cut the special library tax. The group needed at least 316 signatures, or 3% of the those from North Huntingdon, Irwin and North Irwin, who cast ballots in the November 2021 election, to have it placed on the ballot, said Greg McCloskey, Westmoreland County Elections Bureau director.

With a referendum, voters can choose whether “they believe their mandated payments to the library are necessary,” said Tammy Moreno, the spokeswoman for Friends of the Norwin Library Reform. Moreno described it as a bipartisan effort by concerned taxpayers.

Cutting the library tax by 1 mill is a way for property owners to reduce their tax bill after the Norwin School Board voted to raise taxes for the 2022-23 school year, said Rich Walczak of North Huntingdon, one of the organizers of the petition drive.

Over the past 21 years, the library has received close to $10 million in taxpayer funding through the tax, Walczak said. The opposition group said in a statement that the mortgage has been paid on the 16,000-square-foot facility.

The 1.2-mill library tax adds about $27 to the annual school tax bill for owners of properties with the median assessed value of $22,000, Falk said.

“The taxpayers have faithfully fulfilled their obligation to the library board and are now capable of obtaining most if not all of the services formerly provided by the library in the palm of their hand,” the opposition group said in a statement.

The group believes “the need for a brick-and-mortar building has become much less significant” this century because of the internet and smartphones.

“We believe that the library needs to reform its public service to meet this ever-changing electronic environment and that requires much less cost, space, and the need for face to face human interaction,” the opposition group said in its statement.

The library continues to provide a service to the community, Falk said, with circulation around 159,000 last year, the same as in 2019. She is projecting that circulation will rise by about 3% this year.

The library provides a variety of other services, Falk noted, including job search, technical assistance with electronics, computers, access to e-books, programming for children and summer reading programs. About 1,000 adults attend programming, and there are book- and movie-discussion groups. The library also serves a resource to supplement what students are learning in school or for them to do research.

The opposition group said it hopes the library will continue to service those people who are not capable of obtaining such benefits, but that number of people is far smaller than it was in 2000.

“The foot traffic is up about 20% this year, compared to last year,” Falk said.

Past referendum

The library was able to beat a similar defunding effort in 2007 with about 70% of the vote. There was an effort in 2006 to have the question placed on the ballot, but that effort was rejected when the opponents of the library tax failed to follow proper procedure for filing a referendum.

“My goal is to get 85%” approval for the library, Falk said.

Irwin Councilman Tyler Baum, 24, said the library was an important resource for him when he was a student at Norwin.

“I really can’t fathom not funding the library,” Baum said.

Norwin Public Library is one of only three libraries in Westmoreland County that receive dedicated tax revenue, with the others being Jeannette and Greensburg Hempfield Area Library, said Cesare Muccari, executive director of the Westmoreland Library Network. Other libraries in the county receive donations from the municipalities they serve, Muccari said.

Voters in North Huntingdon, Irwin and North Irwin are not the only ones who will cast a ballot on Nov. 8 to decide whether to eliminate tax revenue for a library.

In Southwest Greensburg, borough council in June approved a referendum that asks voters whether they want to repeal and eliminate a special 1 mill tax levied on property to help fund the Greensburg Hempfield Area Library.

The special library tax was rejected by voters in Hempfield, New Stanton, South Greensburg and Youngwood in the November 2017 election.

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