Butler Area library receives $29,500 from city’s library tax
Butler City Council released just over $29,500 from the city’s 2023 library tax to the Butler Area Public Library on Thursday evening, Jan. 25.
Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy said the library tax has to be collected by a municipality, and the city has a line item in its annual budget under “special levies.”
“It’s a dedicated special tax that says what goes to the library,” Dandoy said Friday.
Council also voted to give the City Shade Tree Commission a little more than $56, which represents the remaining proceeds from the city’s 2022 prior year shade tree tax. Dandoy said the money given to the commission was leftover from that year.
The city also voted to give a $50,000 grant from Butler Downtown to Porchvue Winery. The money is distributed to an applicant from Butler Downtown, but the funds originally came from the state.
According to Dandoy, a Butler Downtown committee evaluates applicants and recommends to the city who to give the money to when it is available. The money distributed is not tax money collected by the city, Dandoy said.
Porchvue Winery is an existing business in Clarion County registered to Craig Slomers of Chicora. Dandoy said its owners have plans to renovate the space on Main Street that previously operated as Haser’s restaurant.
“The city's involvement, it's really just an overseer of it,” Dandoy said. “Butler Downtown, they have a committee, they sit down and they allot these loans to different people. As Porchvue pays this back, that will give the money back to give to someone else.”
