From the LEHIGH VALLEY MORNING CALL:
…Pennsylvania’s library subsidy — the biggest chunk of state money that goes to the institutions — takes a 5 percent hit, to $50.83 million, in Gov. Tom Corbett‘s proposed 2012-13 state budget. Public libraries receive a mix of state and local funding for their operating budgets.
State funding for libraries had held steady at $53.5 million for the last two fiscal years, down from a high of $75 million in 2008. The reduction in state support has forced some libraries to close branches, slash hours and leave open positions vacant….
“We believe that libraries are valuable to the communities of Pennsylvania and it is our hope that they will be able to continue to provide services to their patrons,” Tim Eller, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, where library funding resides, said in an e-mail. “The reductions in the line items for libraries is a result of reduced revenues coming into the commonwealth and the governor’s belief that state government must live within its means.”
Click here to read the full article.
EDITOR: Yet no extraction tax on Corbetts Marcellus Shale million dollar campaign contributors.
