A pitch for increased funding for the Allentown Public Library has been rejected by the Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners.

And, according to township commissioners, the Salisbury Township School District should honor its commitment, which commissioners claim has been broken, to help fund the Allentown Public Library.

“Our [Salisbury Township] School District doesn’t contribute at all to the library,” township commissioner Debra Brinton said.

“And I think they should,” Commissioner President James A. Brown added.

Salisbury is believed to be the only municipality other than the City of Allentown to fund the Allentown Public Library.

“In the past, we had an annex that was closed without us knowing it,” Brinton said, referring to the former Mountainville Branch along Emmaus Avenue in Allentown.

Salisbury Township voters approved a November 2013 ballot question to continue to pay a rate of 0.06087 mills, or about $14 annually per home that is assessed at $230,000, which is approximately the township average. Commissioners voted in August 2013 to place the referendum on the November 2013 ballot.

According to township officials, the original agreement called for the township and Salisbury School District to share costs of funding the Allentown Public Library, but the district only did so for two years and then stopped and hasn’t resumed its funding of the public library.

The last payment by Salisbury School District to fund the Allentown Public Library was in 1994, according to township officials.

The discussion about township funding of the Allentown Public Library, which for 2017 is $81,559, approximately the same annual amount since 2008 and is annually budgeted by commissioners, occurred during the Sept. 8 workshop when Allentown Public Library Director Renee Haines made a funding request to commissioners. It was not disclosed what the funding request was.

Salisbury Township Manager Randy Soriano reviewed the history of the township’s support of the library, and said he was “trying to formalize an informal agreement.

“I think what they’re [Allentown Public Library] asking is formalizing this agreement,” Soriano said.

Soriano is the township representative on the Allentown Public Library board. Norma Cusick is the Salisbury Township School District representative on the Allentown Public Library board.

“I think the original intent was that we should divide it [Allentown Public Library funding] equally between the township and the school district,” Soriano said.

“I don’t think it matters how it happened. I think it matters that they [Salisbury School District] are not contributing,” Brown said.

“If there’s anything extra that you need, you should go to the school district,” Commissioner Joanne Ackerman told Haines, adding, “They do have children who use the [Allentown Public] Library.

“I think it’s time for them [Salisbury School District] to step up to the plate,” Ackerman emphasized.

“I say we stay where we are” [in funding the Allentown Public Library], Brinton said.

“We can talk to them [Salisbury School District],” Commissioner Vice President Robert Martucci Jr. suggested, adding “I’m in favorite of not increasing it [township funding of Allentown Public Library].”

“I think it’s going to be status quo,” Brown said of the township funding of the Allentown Public Library, telling Haines, “If you think you want to go to the [Salisbury Township School District] school board that’s your decision.”

Haines told commissioners she hasn’t approached Salisbury School District for funding of the Allentown Public Library.

The township “agreement” is bound by law because township taxpayers voted in 2013 to agree to support the Allentown Public Library annually with a portion of their taxes.

“If there’s a change in the millage, I don’t know that referendum locked you into that,” Atty. John W. Ashley, township solicitor said

“There’s no formal agreement [between the township and Allentown Public Library for funding],” Ashley said. “We should have an agreement so that everybody knows. I think you need some formal understanding.”

Holding up a copy of the referendum, Brinton said, “This is your formal agreement.”

At the time of the 2013 vote, according to election results, 67 percent of township voters supported the library tax. The tax gives township residents Allentown Public Library access. The township does not have a library. Township voters had approved the original library tax referendum in 1993 when 78 percent favored the tax.

There are about 5,333 township households. Statistic indicate that 2,366, or 44 percent, include at least one Allentown Public Library card holder.