Section 142.5. Funding guidelines

(a) Commonwealth Libraries will award grants from the Fund to municipalities to pay up to 50% of eligible public library project costs.

(b) The municipality shall demonstrate that sufficient matching funds from eligible sources are available to meet at least 50% of project costs.

(c) The municipality shall demonstrate that the grant award plus other available funds are sufficient to complete the proposed project.

(d) Commonwealth Libraries will give priority to economically distressed communities in awarding grants meeting 50% of costs and may award grants meeting a smaller percentage of project costs to municipalities whose local economies better enable local support of the project. For purposes of this grant program, in deciding whether a community is considered economically distressed, Commonwealth Libraries will be guided by one or more of the following criteria:

(1) The public library to benefit from the grant received equalization aid in the year of the grant application or will be eligible to receive equalization aid in the year following the grant application under section 303(b)(6) of the Library Code (24 P. S. § 4303(b)(6)).

(2) The municipality is a city, borough, incorporated town or township having a market value per capita below the twentieth percentile of all like cities, boroughs, incorporated town and townships, as certified annually by the State Tax Equalization Board.

(3) The municipality is a county or is located in a county having a personal income per capita below the twentieth percentile of all counties, as certified annually by the Department of Revenue.

(4) The municipality is a county or is located in a county or is a minor civil division with a population of 25,000 or higher having an average annual unemployment rate above the eightieth percentile of all counties or all minor civil divisions, as determined annually by the Department of Labor and Industry.

Notation

Cross References

This section cited in 22 Pa. Code § 142.6 (relating to eligible matching funds).