(10/22) The Liberty Township supervisors approved a $1,500 donation to be included for the county library in their pending 2021 budget at their October budget workshop, although reducing the amount of the donation was suggested.
The proposed 2021 budget, which is still being generated, included a line item stating that $1,541 would be donated to the Adams County Library, an amount that has been donated annually for more than a decade.
However. Supervisor Bobby Keilholtz noted that a donation in that amount had been made to the library for over ten years, amounting to a total of at least some $15,000. "I’ve really thought about this a great deal. I don’t want to turn my back on the public library, but I have my doubts in certain areas about usage and that sort of thing to our township people."
Keilholtz said he would be in favor of donating an amount from the routine $1,541 to a reduced amount of $500 to the library. The donation would equate the amount to be given to the SPCA in the proposed budget. The supervisor further stated, "My interest is in trying to forgo any (potential) tax increases."
Laura Goss, executive director, Adams County Library System, briefly explained the history of the library system, which ultimately resulted in the establishment of the Carroll Valley Branch (CVB), noting that, in 1997 the library system consisted of the Gettysburg Library, a branch in New Oxford, and the bookmobile, and has since expanded to include the CVB, amongst others.
To serve as home to a branch, each municipality agrees to provide the space for the library, and the library system provides for all the equipment and contents.
Goss stated that, unlike the other libraries in the system, CVB is supported by all of the municipalities served by the Fairfield Area School District, the dollar amount determined by the population percentage of each (the school district itself contributes nothing). The library system pays $1,000 a month for the use of space within the Carroll Valley Municipal Building.
Liberty Township represents 15-percent of the CV library’s service-area, although only 11-percent of Liberty residents claim the CVB as their primary library. The request for funding for that branch is $1.25 per-capita, with all supporting municipalities assessed the same per-capita rate. The per-capita rate is based on the rent paid to Carroll Valley for the facility. Goss stated that other revenue sources provide the rest of the system-funding, Goss said.
All three supervisors ultimately agreed to approve the $1,541 contribution and may reconsider the possibility of reducing their contribution during the preparation of the future 2022 budget.
