Southwest Greensburg to consider referendum to pull library funding

Southwest Greensburg council members are mum about a possible vote next week regarding continuing financial support for the Greensburg Hempfield Area Library.

The seven-member council is expected to consider placing a referendum on the November ballot asking voters if they want to continue to pay one mill of real estate tax — generating about $15,440 — to maintain the borough’s dedicated funding of the library.

“We were very disheartened to hear about this,” said Jamie Falo, director of the Greensburg Hempfield Area Library.

“I understand the dilemma Southwest (Greensburg) is in, and I am certainly sympathetic to the issues they are experiencing. It may be that they are forced to go this route because they have greater needs at this time,” Falo said.

Council meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the borough building, 564 Stanton St.

Borough officials could not be reached for comment or declined to comment and referred all questions to solicitor Gary Falatovich, who also could not be reached for comment.

Council agreed in June to place the resolution for a vote in July, which could result in voters deciding to eliminate the levy for the library that started in 2018. Even if voters were to reject funding for the library, council would use the revenue from that one mill of tax for general purposes, according to the resolution. The borough levies a 25-mill tax rate for its 2022 budget.

Allison Cox, Southwest Greensburg’s representative on the Greensburg Hempfield Area Library board, said she was not familiar with the possible move to eliminate the allocation to the library.

The move to cut funding to the library, which operates on an annual budget of $785,000, is occurring as financial support from the state and Westmoreland County has been level in recent years, Falo said.

“The demand (for services) keeps going up, and the funding keeps dropping. We keep offering more and more and more,” Falo said.

Programming for children continues to be in demand, so much so that there is usually a waiting list for those programs, said Kimberly Tuscan, the library’s communications coordinator.

Library statistics show Southwest Greensburg residents who have been using the library since the beginning of the year through July 5 have saved $46,556 by checking out materials. The value is based on the cost if the materials had been purchased, according to statistics from the Westmoreland Library Network. Since 2016, borough residents have saved $1.139 million, Falo said.

Out of the 11 area municipalities served by the library, Southwest Greensburg ranks fourth in savings following Hempfield, Greensburg and Youngwood, Falo said.

The attempt to place the question of borough funding of the library on November’s ballot comes five years after Southwest Greensburg voters approved the funding by a wide margin — 330 votes for funding and 220 against.

Library representatives had sought in 2017 to have voters in six municipalities served by the library — Greensburg, South Greensburg, Southwest Greensburg, Hempfield, Youngwood and New Stanton — to dedicate the revenue from one mill of real estate taxes to the library. Only voters in Greensburg and Southwest Greensburg approved the referendum in November 2017.

The library had hoped to be able to receive a funding stream of about $500,000 if voters in all municipalities had approved the referendum, but only secured about $135,000 a year for the library. At the time, library officials said they needed the additional money to continue operations over the long term. Instead of allocating the revenue from one mill of tax, Hempfield has donated $30,000 annually and South Greensburg has contributed a small amount, Falo said.

One option could be for Southwest Greensburg and the library to work together to apply for grant funding that will benefit the borough and the library, Falo said.

If a majority of council approves placing the referendum on the ballot, “I’m hopeful that the residents will demonstrate their support for the library and vote ‘yes,’” Falo said.

”I’m open to discussing this with them,” she added.