Town council calls on province to increase funding for libraries

At Councillor Bob Inglis's urging, Halton Hills council sent a letter off to the provincial government requesting an increase in grants to Ontario libraries. Inglis, the council's representative on the library board, noted that provincial grants have stagnated, with no hikes since 1999, despite growth in population and operating costs. Between 1992 and 1999, the Province reduced by 34 per cent its grant to the Halton Hills Public Library from $102,000 to $67,000. Today, calculations are based on a 1998 rate of $4.08 per household. "We're eight years behind here," said Inglis, adding the resolution is asking the Province to base that grant on an indexed updated model.