Future of Halfmoon Township library services unclear after supervisors slash funding

The Halfmoon Township Board of Supervisors voted Thursday night to decrease its contribution to local libraries starting next year.

Board member Patti Hartle was the only vote against the measure, which establishes a $5 per resident contribution to the Centre County Federation of Public Libraries.

The board had previously voted, in December, to withdraw from the Schlow Centre Region Library program due to concerns about the contract.

Past library funding contributions from the township were split between Schlow and the Centre County Library and amounted to about $18/resident, with Halfmoon slated to spend $54,620 on library services this year, the CDT previously reported. The majority — $50,120 — is spent on Schlow library.

The township had not sent library payments to the Centre County Federation of Public Libraries in the past, Halfmoon Township treasurer Brett Laird said, but a survey of the board administered prior to the June 12 board of supervisors meeting showed that a majority preferred to give money to the federation “for them to decide who needs what that particular year.”

The Centre County Federation of Public Libraries includes the Philipsburg, Bellefonte, and Centre Hall branches, the Schlow Centre Region Library, the Centre County Library & Historical Museum, and the Bookmobile.

Supervisor Rose Ann Hoover supported the $5 per person plan and said during the meeting that it should go to the federation because “they know what each library needs.”

Hartle, however, supported a $10 per person contribution, noting in a June 12 meeting that an array of services are expected to be affected, including book lockers and book returns in the township.

“If the majority is for the federation, I would be fine with that,” Hartle said. “But I think it needs to be more than five dollars.”

A $5 per person contribution would amount to a total contribution of $13,950, Laird said, telling the CDT Monday that Halfmoon Township’s 2024 budget would include just one line item for library funding.

While Hartle said that annual total “seems pretty low,” Piper said the per person donation is roughly what the Bellefonte Borough gives.

The change amounts to a nearly 75% cut in Halfmoon’s library funding between 2023 and 2024.

Denise Sticha, the executive director of the Centre County Library and Historical Museum and co-director of the federation, wrote Monday that the federation has not yet had a chance to meet and discuss the change. Lisa Rives Collens, the director of Schlow and co-director of the federation, agreed, saying that the federation “will know more” once they meet in August.

Following the vote, members of the board and multiple community members in the audience began talking in earnest about who was on the federation board. A man in the audience seemed distressed and asked if that amount would be donated just once a year, and one woman offered to look up the members online.

“Well, I wasn’t so concerned as to who is (on the board) to just making sure it’s an even balance,” Piper replied.

Sharon Rovansek, Halfmoon Township’s representative on the Schlow library board, said Tuesday that she was “disappointed” with the decision and said she hoped she had “tried hard” to support the libraries.

“I feel very strongly about public libraries, they’re the great equalizer in our society,” she said.

During the meeting, the board also approved funding for Port Matilda EMS.