Council for the Rural Municipality of Hanover has decided to increase its funding to the Jake Epp Library in Steinbach.

Reeve Stan Toews says for the last ten years they have been providing the library with an annual grant of $3,400. For 2020, they will be increasing that to $4,000.

But, Toews says this is not the only money the library receives from Hanover in a given year. The municipality provides a $30 subsidy per family membership to the library. The normal membership fee is $95 annually. Instead, Hanover residents are charged $65. Toews explains the library then invoices Hanover on a quarterly basis for these memberships. 

In recent years, an average of 288 families from Hanover purchase the membership. That ranges from a high of 298 families in 2019 to a low of 277 families in 2017.

In 2019, Hanover's membership subsidy totalled $8,940. When you add the $3,400 annual grant, Hanover provided total funding of $12,340 to the Jake Epp Library. From a taxation standpoint, it works out to $1.91 for a residential property of $250,000.

According to Toews, the decision to increase its annual grant was made following a request from the library.

"Hanover does not have a designated library as such," explains Toews. "We have lots of surrounding people (who) use this service here, so we feel it's important that we also contribute some to that."