Senator Sean Ryan Passes Legislation To Expand Funding Opportunities For New York’s Libraries

SENATOR SEAN RYAN PASSES LEGISLATION TO EXPAND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEW YORK’S LIBRARIES

Legislation Assists Small And Rural Public Libraries With Capital Improvement Costs

ALBANY – Today, May 10, 2021, New York State Senator Sean Ryan announced that the State Senate passed his legislation (S.5753) to expand funding opportunities for New York’s libraries. The legislation will assist small and rural public libraries by providing them with greater access to state grant funding opportunities through New York’s Public Library Construction Aid Program. The bill now goes to the State Assembly, where it is sponsored by Assemblymember Kimberly Jean-Pierre.

The program currently provides grants to New York’s libraries in two different ways: grants where New York State covers 90% of construction project costs and local governments provide 10%, and grants where New York State covers 75% of construction project costs and local governments provide 25%. The 90/10 grants are especially appealing to economically distressed areas, small libraries, and rural areas, because these local governments usually have a difficult time funding the local portion of the project.

Senator Ryan’s legislation amends the Public Library Construction Aid Program’s requirements to reserve 50% of its funding from the for 90/10 grants to economically distressed areas. Current state law reserves 10% of the program’s funding for this use. Dedicating more state funding to 90/10 grants will allow more libraries across New York to take advantage of this important program.

Senator Sean Ryan said, “The Library Construction Aid Program is technically open to all library systems across the state, but poor and rural communities that lack the tax base to support the program’s matching requirements are often shut out of the funding. Allocating more funding to the much more achievable 10% match grant will give more of New York’s smallest libraries the opportunity to access desperately needed funding and help ensure that libraries in every part of our state are able to continue to serve their communities.”

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