Are boroughs truly ‘defunding’ Indian Valley Public Library?

There has been a lot of talk and articles written in the paper indicating a “defunding of the library,” yet if you speak to any borough council members in Souderton or Telford, you will clearly hear that this is not the case.

When the annual budgets came up for discussion in the fall of 2022, it was evident that our first responders were in desperate need of more funding — Souderton needed more funding for firefighters and Telford needed more funding for the police. Currently the Telford police force needs 8 officers to manage our population size — they have only 4.

The boroughs carefully reviewed this decision. And after it was reported that the library has an annual budget of $1.3 million, the head librarian makes about $90,000 or more per year, and they have around 40 people on staff, it became clear that the greater need was for our first responders.

Even so, Telford only decreased their yearly giving by about $16,000. They are still giving $45,000 to the library each year. Souderton decreased their amount by only $9,000. They are still giving about $75,000 per year. That is a far cry from the “defunding the library” slogan that progressives have been chanting. I would like to clarify that conservative citizens and groups are not asking for a defunding, they are asking for accountability.

Twenty-five thousand dollars is a relatively small amount when you are talking about a $1.3 million annual budget. Is it possible the library should be willing to make some minor cuts to allow for greater safety and protection within the communities they serve? Nobody seemed to be asking that.

Then in one of the recent borough meetings, a Telford borough member commented that the Indian Valley Public Library is not very deserving of these funds due to the books that contain pornographic material that is made available to children. He also made the point that the boroughs who give tax dollars to the library have not been given a seat on the board of Trustees for the library, which prevents accountability for the library in representing the communities they serve.

At the last Telford borough meeting, these issues came to a head and borough member Bob Jacobus presented a report detailing some of the pornographic content available to minors. Many progressives at the meeting stated that they were there to “stop the defunding of the library,” but after the meeting when several members of the LGBTQ+ community reviewed the content available to minors, they too were appalled and felt this was inappropriate for children.

All we are asking is that books rated 4 and above that have sexually explicit or pornographic material be put in a keyed area to ensure that only adults can access them. And we would like the board of trustees for the library to provide a voting seat for every borough that contributes tax dollars to the library. It seems presumptuous to ask for a community’s tax dollars without giving representation. We the people pay for this library, yet we currently have no elected voice in the content it keeps. The citizens of Franconia, Lower Salford, Salford, Souderton, and Telford deserve a voice in this important entity that affects all families of our community. It’s time to have elected borough officials sitting on the board of trustees.