The Worthington Borough Council's 5-0 vote to cut $3,000 of its $4,000 contribution to its library is disappointing. The logic one councilman used to support his vote is just wrong.
Council Vice President George Kerr said voters showed they didn't want to support the library last year when they rejected a tax increase for it at the polls. That's like saying you don't support the Steelers because you can't afford season tickets for their games.
Voters weren't saying they didn't support the library; they were saying they could not afford to up the ante in tough economic times. You can't, or shouldn't, make the leap that it means they don't support the library — or that they don't care that funding was so drastically cut.
You have to wonder what the council would have done if voters had approved the tax increase in May. It is not much of a stretch to think they would have voted to slash funding of the library because it was no longer needed. It seems the library was going to lose no matter what.
A library remains a valuable resource for any community. Residents should make it known that they don't think it's acceptable that budget cuts are threatening the Worthington-East Franklin Community Library.
The council made a bad decision — based on strained logic — to cut funding to the library. But it is not too late to reverse that decision and reinstate the money to ensure that the library remains open and vital in the community.
That would be the right thing to do.
