EPHRATA, Pa. — Neighbors are outraged and angered over the latest budget proposal from Akron Borough. In 2023, the Borough Council is planning to cut the $20,000 of funding it usually gives to the Ephrata Library.
It would be the first time in borough history.
“It completely blew my mind," said Rebecca Beres, an Akron resident. “There is no reason why any of the municipalities within the Ephrata school system should be pulling funding. If anything, they should be giving more money.”
Beres runs a local women’s health program that meets at the Ephrata Public Library.
In a September meeting, Councilman Paul Swangren questioned sending money to the library. He claimed the library's agenda did not match up with the "conservative values" of the area.
Beres says Councilman Swangren had a problem with the women’s health program.
“The individual members of Akron Borough council that did speak up against this are the exact individuals who have been telling women, ‘it’s not okay to talk about your bodies or feel any sort of way,'" said Beres.
“To hold all of us on council to what one person said is kind of an unfair thing to do," said Nathan Imhoff, the president of the Akron Borough Council.
Council President Imhoff says Swangren’s views don’t reflect the opinion of the entire council. He says the council collectively made the decision to cut funding to the library for fiscal reasons, mainly to help pay for sewage line upgrades.
“We are faced with one large infrastructure project that became known to us," said Imhoff. "We had to find money where we could pull from to keep our budget balanced and not raise taxes.”
“This unexpected, total cut to the library funding, I think, caught a lot of people by surprise," said Christi Buker, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Library Association.
Akron’s total contribution covers just 2% of Ephrata Public Library’s total budget, however, losing that funding could have an impact.
“Library funding in Pennsylvania is tricky because libraries are not 100% funded by taxpayer dollars, but every dollar matters," said Buker.
Imhoff believes the Ephrata Public Library greatly benefits the Akron community, and that the council will look at other ways to support the library going forward.
“Once we understand where we are financially and how much surplus we have sitting in our funds, we will look to give a donation," said Imhoff.
FOX43 reached out to the Ephrata Public Library for an interview, but they declined to comment.