(a) Eligibility.--A local library or library system shall qualify for equalization aid if it:

(1) Achieves or exceeds applicable basic standards.

(2) Maintains or exceeds its financial effort of the preceding year.

(3) Is supported by a municipality that is economically distressed.

(b) Economically distressed municipality.--A municipality shall be deemed economically distressed if it meets any one or more of the following criteria:

(1) It is a city, borough, town or township with a market value per capita below the fifth percentile of all such cities, boroughs, towns and townships, as certified annually by the State Tax Equalization Board.

(2) It is located in a county having a personal income per capita below the 15th percentile of all counties, as certified annually by the Department of Revenue.

(3) It is located in a county having an annual average unemployment rate above the 70th percentile of all counties, as determined annually by the Department of Labor and Industry.

(c) Per capita determination.--Population data to be used for determining market value per capita and personal income per capita, as provided for in this section, shall be the latest available data from the Federal Census Bureau for the direct service area of the local library or library system.

(d) Failure to meet certain eligibility requirements.--If a library or library system that is supported by an economically distressed municipality fails to maintain or exceed its financial effort of the preceding year, the library may still qualify for equalization aid if the State Librarian accepts evidence that the library or municipality did not attempt to substitute State funds for local effort.

(e) Allocation method.--The following shall apply:

(1) Twenty percent of the annual allocation for equalization aid shall first be distributed in equal amounts to all local libraries and members of library systems which qualify for equalization aid.

(2) The remainder of the annual allocation shall be distributed on a per capita basis to each local library and library system which qualifies for equalization aid by dividing the number of persons residing in the direct service area of each such local library or library system by the total number of such persons residing in the direct service areas of all qualifying local libraries or library systems and multiplying the result by the amount of the allocation to be distributed on a per capita basis.

(f) Maximum allotment.--As a result of the provisions of this section, no local library or library system shall receive more than one-third of the total annual appropriation for equalization aid in any year.

(g) Minimum allotment.--For each fiscal year that the Commonwealth's total annual appropriation for the system of State aid to libraries exceeds $17,500,000, no local library or library system shall receive less equalization aid as a result of the provisions of this section than that local library or library system received for equalization aid during the 1984-1985 fiscal year.

Cross References. Section 9340 is referred to in sections 9302, 9333, 9334 of this title.