The Ste. Anne library won’t have to close its doors after all.

About a month ago, the library was in danger of closing its doors due to an $8,000 funding cut from the town to an already tight $71,000 annual budget. Following the announcement a few weeks ago that the RM of Ste Anne will give an additional $5,000 per year to the library, last night council for the Town of Ste. Anne passed a resolution to give a total of $28,000 to the library annually, which they have done in the past three years.

Mayor Richard Pelletier explains why both levels of government decided to give the Ste. Anne library $5,000 more than what they had originally asked for. 

"We definitely see the people who want to keep the library open and we looked at it together and thought it was a good move to support the library and then review all of this in the next couple of years."

Pelletier adds they have a bright future for the library in Ste. Anne. 

"Like you said we’re growing so much and the other thing is that we’re working with the RM. If we’re looking at the people from the town and we’re looking at people from the RM, and if we work together like the plans are, I could see the library even bigger than today. Our future is to make it bigger and having a team working with the RM and having this pool of people, it’s going to make it happen."

Meanwhile, Councillor Wayne Setlack notes there are some upcoming resignations within the library board.

"There will be a couple of openings for the library board in Ste Anne here. The president spot (Michelle Larocque) and the secretary spot (Lorraine Vermette). They aren’t vacant yet but they will be towards the fall of 2018."

Head Librarian Shannon Lenton says when she started at the Ste. Anne library there were about 75 patrons who attended per month and is excited to say that number has now shot up to anywhere between 500 to 550. She says this increase in funding is huge for them. 

"I think that's absolutely fabulous. I think that means that people are still interested in the library, they still want to see things happen at the library and I couldn't be more thankful. I think it's great."

Lenton says it will be up to the library board to decide where the money will be spent but adds there are some upgrades that are needed in their facility and anticipates a part of the money will go towards that. 

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Ste. Anne Library At Risk Of Closing