24 Pa.C.S. § 9340 Equalization Aid

• Library: Pennsylvania Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through P.A. Acts 2023-66
• Year: 2023
• Citation: 24 Pa.C.S. § 9340

(a) Eligibility.--A local library or library system shall qualify for equalization aid if it:

(1) Achieves or exceeds applicable basic standards.

(2) Maintains or exceeds its financial effort of the preceding year.

(3) Is supported by a municipality that is economically distressed.

(b) Economically distressed municipality.--A municipality shall be deemed economically distressed if it meets any one or more of the following criteria:

(1) It is a city, borough, town or township with a market value per capita below the fifth percentile of all such cities, boroughs, towns and townships, as certified annually by the State Tax Equalization Board.

(2) It is located in a county having a personal income per capita below the 15th percentile of all counties, as certified annually by the Department of Revenue.

(3) It is located in a county having an annual average unemployment rate above the 70th percentile of all counties, as determined annually by the Department of Labor and Industry.

(c) Per capita determination.--Population data to be used for determining market value per capita and personal income per capita, as provided for in this section, shall be the latest available data from the Federal Census Bureau for the direct service area of the local library or library system.

(d) Failure to meet certain eligibility requirements.--If a library or library system that is supported by an economically distressed municipality fails to maintain or exceed its financial effort of the preceding year, the library may still qualify for equalization aid if the State Librarian accepts evidence that the library or municipality did not attempt to substitute State funds for local effort.