Delay in state subsidy release puts local libraries, district network in budget bind

When Melinda Tanner calls vendors who supply support services for the Westmoreland Library Network, they know she’s going to ask for an extension of a bill payment deadline.

“The word spreads,” said Tanner, district consultant librarian for the network, which is holding payments while waiting for a little more than $354,000 in overdue state funding.

That’s the Westmoreland district office’s share of the subsidy of about $70 million for state libraries that was approved last summer as part of Pennsylvania’s 2023-24 budget.

The money has yet to be released amid partisan wrangling by lawmakers in Harrisburg. If they don’t approve the fiscal language needed to distribute the funding before year’s end, many of the 26 local libraries that are included in the Westmoreland network will start 2024 looking for ways to close a resulting budget gap.

“We’re only spending what we need to spend,” Tanner said of the district library budget. That includes covering costs of delivering books ordered through interlibrary loans and paying her salary along with wages for four delivery drivers, three of whom work part-time. The library network is looking to fill a vacant executive director post.

An $80,000 bill is coming due at the end of the year, Tanner said. That’s for an automation system that gives patrons of all libraries in the network the ability to search a common digital card catalog of materials.

Until the delayed state funding is released, other county library initiatives may remain on hold.

“We’re supposed to be moving forward with a strategic plan, working on a rebranding and a technology audit,” Tanner said.

In most previous years, she said, state funding for the Westmoreland library district had been released no later than August.

If the state House and Senate don’t agree to release the current budgeted funds while they’re in session Dec. 11-13, Tanner is concerned the crucial action may not happen any sooner than February.

“That will affect state aid that all the member libraries are supposed to get in January,” she said. “We’ve got some small libraries with budgets of less than $50,000. They don’t have the extra money to keep going until February, March or April.”

$5.2M slated for Allegheny

Amy Anderson, CEO of the Allegheny County Library Association, sees trouble on the horizon.

“We normally get our state funds in January, so it hasn’t hit us yet, but it will,” Anderson said. “A lot of our libraries, they run on a shoestring. Any disruption to expected funding could have very real consequences.”

The association is set to receive $5.2 million to support 45 library systems in the county. That doesn’t include the association’s 46th member, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which receives its state funding directly as the district center.

“We are concerned that if this continues on, it will affect the libraries getting their payments in,” Anderson said. “We are concerned that they are only going to be in session for three days in December. It doesn’t sound good for anything happening to break the impasse.”

Allegheny County is lucky to have Regional Asset District funding, Anderson said, but that doesn’t cover everything.

“It’s not as much as they get from the state, but it is helpful to kind of bridge that gap if needed,” she said.

Libraries use state funding for a variety of things, including the purchase of books and materials as well as scheduling programming and activities.

When it comes to the possibility of furloughing employees, Anderson hopes it doesn’t come to that but notes it will be up to the individual libraries.

“Each of our libraries are independently managed. They have their own board or municipalities they answer to. It would be a library-by-library decision,” she said. “I would hope that we would be able to hold that off, but I know there are some libraries that cut it very close, so I would be very concerned.”

Back in Westmoreland, Tanner said she’s encouraging all local library board members and volunteers to contact their state legislators and urge release of the library funding.

“It is trickling down to the local libraries,” she said. “If (the funding delay) goes past January, it will affect every library.”

The budget passed in Harrisburg last summer included more than $1.2 million to be shared among 18 Westmoreland libraries that receive state aid.

Smaller libraries hit

The Sewickley Township Public Library is in line to receive about $26,000 in state aid while the Mt. Pleasant Free Public Library is awaiting more than $46,000 — in each case, representing about 20% of the individual library’s budget.

Uncertainty about the funding release comes at the end of a year of upheaval for the Sewickley library. Now situated in a former sewage authority building, the library was forced to move from a nearby space in a former high school in Herminie that was closed because of concerns about wall stability.

“It took about eight weeks to find a new place,” said Mandy Luchs, director of the library. “We put a lot of our collection into storage, but we’re happy to be open and able to serve the community again.”

The delayed state funding is “a big issue, for sure,” Luchs said. “I think we have enough in our savings and investment accounts that we would be able to cover staffing and a lot of our programs. It would really depend on how long this goes on.

“If it’s another month or two, it would be fine, but if it drags on longer than that …”

Director Sarah Buzzard said the Mt. Pleasant library relies on state funding, particularly in the early part of each year, before proceeds start to come in from local fundraising efforts.

The state aid covers about 22% of the library’s expenses, with about 12% devoted to developing its collection of materials.

While waiting for the state funding, she said, “We have some money we can pull from, but that’s in a worst-case scenario.”

This story is updated to reflect that the state allocation for libraries is designated to be $70 million, not $700 million.