posted by Joe Polk at 12:11 PM /
Most would agree you can't put a price on the services public libraries provide to communities. But deciding precisely how much money should go to suburban libraries in Allegheny County has become an unlikely source of contention.
It's a tough time for the 44 libraries that receive annual funding through the county's Regional Asset District. With proposed cuts in the state budget looming and individual contributions down, many have come to count on a chunk of RAD's $5.6 million allocation.
Recently, the Allegheny County Library Association presented the RAD board with a proposal to change the fund-sharing formula used since 2000. Committee members -- roughly 22 volunteers from libraries representing the four geographic areas of the county -- spent 18 months working on what eventually would be three different versions of a new formula.
Mt. Lebanon director Cynthia Richey, who is the vice president of the ACLA board but is not on the formula committee, has been perhaps the most outspoken critic of the formula recently rejected by RAD.
"Mt. Lebanon has long supported funding for distressed libraries, and we still expect to lose [RAD funds]," Mrs. Richey said. "But it is a flawed formula. … We want to see it equitably distributed, so you don't have a huge gain by one library and a huge loss by another."
Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09281/1003684-55.stm
It's a tough time for the 44 libraries that receive annual funding through the county's Regional Asset District. With proposed cuts in the state budget looming and individual contributions down, many have come to count on a chunk of RAD's $5.6 million allocation.
Recently, the Allegheny County Library Association presented the RAD board with a proposal to change the fund-sharing formula used since 2000. Committee members -- roughly 22 volunteers from libraries representing the four geographic areas of the county -- spent 18 months working on what eventually would be three different versions of a new formula.
Mt. Lebanon director Cynthia Richey, who is the vice president of the ACLA board but is not on the formula committee, has been perhaps the most outspoken critic of the formula recently rejected by RAD.
"Mt. Lebanon has long supported funding for distressed libraries, and we still expect to lose [RAD funds]," Mrs. Richey said. "But it is a flawed formula. … We want to see it equitably distributed, so you don't have a huge gain by one library and a huge loss by another."
Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09281/1003684-55.stm
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