Wicomico County Council weighs funding request from public library
SALISBURY, Md. – Tuesday morning Wicomico County Council considered a resolution that could affect the timeline of the library’s move to the former site of the Ward Museum in Salisbury.
The library requested a budget amendment that would, in some ways, act as an advance, taking funds from FY26 and making them available in FY25.
Wicomico County Public Library Executive Director Seth Hershberger requested $330,000 from Wicomico County Council for design work on the library’s planned Schumaker Pond facility.
These county funds would be provided in anticipation of a $3 million grant from the Maryland State Library Agency. “We were trying to get the money so that we could go ahead and get started on the designs, because we know that design can take a while and we want to get as far along in the project as we can, so that when the grant is awarded, we’ll be able to break ground as soon as possible.”
Ultimately, the council decided to postpone a vote on the resolution until September 17th.
“I think the council was just looking for a stronger guarantee that the grant is truly going to come through. And then once we know that, we’ll feel more confident in issuing the funds for the architectural and engineering,” said Council President John Cannon.
Cannon said this postponement does not indicate the council is hesitating on the project as a whole: “I don’t think there’s any, any reluctance on the part of the council as far as where the library’s headed. We’ve already stated that publicly. So we’re looking very much forward to Mr. Hershberger getting things moving and seeing the transition take place.”
Undeterred by the council’s decision, Hershberger still likes the library’s chances of hitting the ground running: ‘I’m confident that if we come back in about a month, and that those funds are released for us to go ahead and start working on design, we can be in a good position to make sure that we can expend all the funds from the grant.”
Wicomico Public Library has already been awarded a smaller grant from the Library Services Technology Act, and that federal funding has gone towards a feasibility study, which does include some conceptual design work.
Along with moving the Sarbanes Branch to the Schumaker Drive location, the library has committed to maintaining a smaller space in the downtown Salisbury area.
