Three Mon Valley communities will be asked to ante up a combined $20,000 to keep the doors open at a local branch of Carnegie Library of McKeesport next year.

Since 1998, the Elizabeth Township branch has operated at Central Elementary School in Elizabeth Township, for which the Elizabeth Forward School District allocated up to $20,000 annually. Last year, funding was cut to $10,000.

But with no money earmarked in the current district budget, library director Jo Ellen Kenney said she and the library board planned to turn to the three municipalities that make up the district: Elizabeth Township, Elizabeth Borough and Forward.

"We'll see if they are able to share the contribution so we can continue operations," Ms. Kenney said.

In 2009, Elizabeth Township contributed $10,000 for the first time. The library received no support from Elizabeth Borough or Forward.

While the district cannot afford to give the library money, said Superintendent Bart Rocco, it contributes in other ways, such as free rent, utilities, Internet access and janitorial service at the branch.

In a recent letter to the library board, he wrote, "Over the past eleven years, the district, through dollar allocation and the use of our facility, has provided over $250,000 to support the library. I believe this demonstrates the district's support of the program for our community," he concluded.

The district also planned to relocate the library, free of charge, from Central into a bigger space at the former Elizabeth Elementary School, now the Elizabeth Learning Center, later this year.

"The space is wonderful, but I need money for the staffing and for purchasing items. We can't operate without funding," Ms. Kenney said.

She estimated the annual budget for the branch at $47,000.

The overall budget for the library system with a main branch in McKeesport -- and additional branches in White Oak and Duquesne -- is about $700,000.

Funding comes from the state, Regional Asset District, McKeesport, McKeesport Area School District, Duquesne, White Oak, Elizabeth Township last year and, until now, the Elizabeth Forward School District.

The library system operates independently of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which plans to eliminate five of its branches in the face of an estimated $1.2 million deficit in 2010.

Dr. Rocco said he offered the services of his staff to try to assist in searching and acquiring grants to help support library operations.

"That's something we are always pursuing," said Ms. Kenney, "but they are usually not operating dollars but for a special project.

"It is very difficult to find operating dollars in grant money," she said.

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