Greensburg Hempfield Area Library needs help to secure future

Greensburg Hempfield Area Library's appeal for a 1-mill property tax will require six campaigns in six communities.

Separate referendums will be on ballots in the November general election in Hempfield, Greensburg, New Stanton, Youngwood, South Greensburg and Southwest Greensburg.

If they fail, the library could close within six years, board members said.

“We're looking ahead to that being a very real prospect,” said Brenda White, who chairs the board's referendum committee. “We've been living on a hope and a prayer for years.”

The library usually spends much more than it takes in, relying on charitable donations and dwindling savings to bridge the gap.

The library's 2017 budget is $740,000, and it will receive $284,000 from state and local governments.

If a 1-mill referendum is approved in all six municipalities, the library could raise an additional $716,000 from taxpayers and eliminate the need for support from local governments.

It would cost the average property owner between $20 and $30 a year.

To qualify for state funds, a library must be open for a minimum number of hours and spend a minimum amount of money expanding its collection.

“We're already at the minimum on both of those. We can't cut there any more,” White said.

If the referendums pass, the library plans to add Friday and Sunday hours. The first hurdle is getting on the November ballot. Each municipality's governing body can vote to add the referendum question to its ballot.

Youngwood and Greensburg already gave preliminary approval to hold a referendum, pending a few changes to the language of the ballot question, White said. The other four communities will vote this month.

If local governments don't agree to add the question to the ballot, the library can do so directly by soliciting signatures from residents.

“If we don't have an agreement by the end of this month, we will start the petition process,” White said.

The number of signatures varies depending on community size. Hempfield would be the biggest challenge, requiring 673 names.

Board members and the library staff are not allowed to campaign on behalf of the referendum, so once the measure is on the ballot the newly formed volunteer “Vote Yes” committee will take over.

“The challenge really at this point is to get organized, in terms of getting people assigned to different communities and different tasks,” said Nancy Harris, former library board member and current treasurer of the “Vote Yes” committee.

The committee plans to split into seven subcommittees, with one to handle a campaign in each community and two to campaign in sprawling Hempfield Township.

“That does make life challenging, not so much that there's six (municipalities), but in particular that Hempfield is so big,” Harris said. The committee has been recruiting volunteers and will soon start efforts to win endorsements from local leaders and civic organizations, Harris said.

It will be the county's second library tax vote in as many years.

Jeannette voters approved a 1-mill property tax increase last year to raise about $65,000 for the city library.

Jacob Tierney is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-6646 or jtierney@tribweb.com.