By Wendy Solomon, Lehigh Valley Patch
The Parkland School Board hired a Lancaster law firm Tuesday to represent the school district in the lawsuit filed against it by the Parkland Community Library.
The library sued Parkland School District Thursday in Lehigh County Court to block the district's proposed lowering of the library tax. Kegel, Kelin, Almy & Lord LLP, of Lancaster, will represent the district in a hearing on the matter scheduled at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in front of Judge Michele A. Varricchio at the Lehigh County Courthouse.
Parkland school board directors voted to lower the proposed special library tax from .3 mills to a proposed .1 mills. The library tax was approved by voters in a 1998 referendum.
Lawyers for the library said the planned reduction in millage will further postpone the construction of the new library project planned in Upper Macungie, where it planned to break ground this fall.
The district said voters approved a special library tax for the maintenance of the library, not to create a building fund to construct a new building.
Find out what's happening in Upper Macungiewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Parkland Community Library, currently at 4422 Walbert Ave. in South Whitehall, serves Upper Macungie, South Whitehall and North Whitehall townships and a section of Allentown that is part of the Parkland School District.
The school board was expected to vote on the library tax on June 25, the same night a vote is scheduled for the final 2013-14 school budget.
Find out what's happening in Upper Macungiewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
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