Letter: Tiverton Library funding in jeopardy – Opinion – The Herald News, Fall River, MA – Fall River, MA The Tiverton Town Financial Referendum will take place on Saturday, May 21 at Tiverton High School. It’s important that the voters of Tiverton pay close attention to the consequences of their vote since it can have profound repercussions, especially for the library.The Fiscal 2016 town budget gave $540,000 to the library.According to Rhode Island Statutes Title 29, the library has to get as much as it got in Fiscal 2016 in order to receive the state library grant in aid which was $100,382.In addition if the library does not receive as much as it got in Fiscal 2016 the town will lose the state library reimbursement money to pay for the library bond. Without the reimbursement money the town will have to cover the whole cost.Together the state grant in aid and the state reimbursement come to $428,081.The Town Budget Committee recommends that the library get $556,500 which is over the $540,000 and guarantees the state grant in aid and also the state reimbursement for the library bond.Budget 3 only gives the library $500,000 which is less than was received for Fiscal 2016 and would result in the loss of $428,081 to the town. For $40,000 the town would lose almost a half million dollars if that budget were approved.Budget 2 cuts even more from the town but leaves it up to the budget committee to come up with how the cuts are made. It’s questionable as to whether the town could absorb cuts of almost a million dollars, and the library will be at risk.The big concern is the loss of the state grant in aid and the state reimbursement money. Loss of state reimbursement money would result in the town having to find the additional money and pay the full $537,750.This would be a disaster for the library and the town.For a little over a year Tiverton has had a new library. The town now uses the Community Room for the Municipal Court and various town commissions use its rooms for their meetings.We’ve worked long and hard for a library we can all be proud of.