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JOSELYN KING Staff Writer
WHEELING The Ohio County Board of Education’s move to cut its allocations to the county library by a third isn’t sitting well with local historian Margaret Brennan of Wheeling.
Brennan addressed the board this week, thanking the board and the school system for efforts displayed during the pandemic. She then asked why the board chose to reduce the money it gives the library.
The board voted 3-2 on April 26 to reduce the amount of its library contribution from three cents per $100 of assessed county property value, to two cents. The reduction is projected to lower the next fiscal year’s funding to the library from approximately $884,547 to $589,698.
For The Intelligencer
Photo by Robert A. DeFrank
St. Clairsville Public Library Assistant Director Sarah Stefanovski presents a newly donated telescope the library will soon be loaning out to patrons interested in stargazing.
The St. Clairsville Public Library is launching a new program to give patrons a closer look at the heavens.
Assistant Director Sarah Stefanovski is organizing the program.
“A few months back, we were reached out to by two gentlemen. They were interested in donating a telescope to us. It is actually a nationwide program called Library Telescope,” she said.
Dave Holden of the Oglebay Astronomy Club was the donor. The program provides an Orion StarBlast Astronomical Telescope for libraries to loan to patrons.
Donât Defund the Public Library
May 1, 2021
This past Monday, by a 3-2 vote, the Ohio County Board of Education chose to reduce funding to the Ohio County Public Library, from an annual allocation of $884,547 to $589,698. Voting to partially defund the library were board members David Croft, Molly Aderholt and Christine Carder.
At that same meeting, board members agreed to solicit bids for lighting, restrooms and storage for a new sports field being built next to Wheeling Park High School, projects that will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
For decades, the Ohio County Board of Education has given 3 cents of every dollar in property taxes to help fund the library. From the 1950s through 2012, that allocation was stipulated in state code. However, the West Virginia Supreme Court in 2013 struck down the legal requirement for the funding.
Staff Writer
WHEELING The Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Education’s vote earlier this week to reduce funding to the Ohio County Public Library by a third is expected to negatively impact the facility’s ability to continue its outreach programs and provide resources, according to the library’s director.
At Monday’s meeting, the board voted 3-2 to reduce the funding provided to the library for the coming fiscal year from 3 cents per $100 of assessed property value to 2 cents. This will cut the funding to be contributed to the library from about $884,547 a year to $589,698.
Board President David Croft said later that the money saved from that funding reduction will go to filling in where necessary on the $76 million in property improvement projects in progress around the district.